


What To Do When An Unfamiliar Batman Falls On You. (Don't get between him and his Robin.)

by CatChan



Series: Cats, Birds, Bats... And freaking interdimentional travels! [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Bat Brothers, Bat Family, Confusion, Crash Landing, Dimension Travel, Drama, Family Drama, Fluff, Gen, Hugs, Magic, Mental Link, Rocket Launchers, Terminator Quotes, The Bats Are Very Theatric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-30 06:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8521210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatChan/pseuds/CatChan
Summary: Instead of the pretty manageable cookies explosion he was bracing himself for, Robin barged in the common room to get tackled to the ground by Batman.Okay, so he was used to that, even if Bruce avoided doing that where Robin's teammates could see it because it was just a little humiliating, and Dick liked to be seen as a strong independent young hero, and not as a sidekick that got tackled around by his mentor.But then again, having Batman's nice Kevlar cape between himself and the explosion was always appreciable. Plus, Batman had also protected Zatanna, so it all wasn't quite as bad as it could have been.It was after, when Batman cursed and knelled up, that Dick started suspecting something was really, whelmingly wrong.





	1. A Booming Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> The idea of this story came when I as reading [That Torturous Thing Known As Time Travel](http://archiveofourown.org/works/4922863) by [pupeez4eva](http://archiveofourown.org/users/pupeez4eva/pseuds/pupeez4eva) but I wanted to write about pre-flaspoint Batfamily getting thrown in the relative past of Young Justice season one, and then it got out of hand, as it tends to, and I was planning a whole damn saga that I then wisely chose to start for my NaNo. The other(s) story in the series will be about the same universe, so any future YJ crossover fic will be in a YJ universe where they already had interdimentional visitors at least once, and all the comics side one are in the same continuity (unless I say otherwise)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this happens after the end of YJ, season one, there are bound to be spoilers!

Dick didn't really use to be honest. Well, not loudly so; so, he didn't say out loud that when a bright flash came from the common room, followed by a loud grunt, he first thought it was Megan failing at cookies baking once more. (If it had been the case, he would have been really impressed by how powerful her mess-ups were, but as it turned out, his first assumption did indeed make an ass out of him.)( ... A pretty ass, all said, but still.)

Instead of the, all said, pretty manageable cookies explosion he was bracing himself for, he barged in the common room to get tackled to the ground by Batman.

 

Okay, so he was used to that, even if Bruce avoided doing that where Robin's teammates could see it because it was just a little humiliating, and Dick liked to be seen as a strong independent young hero, and not as a sidekick that got tackled around by his mentor.

 

But then again, having Batman's nice Kevlar cape between himself and the explosion was always appreciable. Plus, Batman had also protected Zatanna, so it all wasn't quite as bad as it could have been.

 

It was after, when Batman cursed and knelled up, that Dick started suspecting something was really, whelmingly wrong.

Batman didn't cuss anywhere where other heroes could see him baring world-ending levels of fucked up, that, frankly, a simple bomb in Mount Justice did not even got close to approaching.

 

And then, the head wearing the cowl rose, and that was not Batman's jaw.

 

The Bat-copy-cat apparently was still a little stunned, or a really badly made counterfeit, because it said "You okay, Robin." Then blinked at him. "You are not my Robin."

 

He jumped to his feet and spun around, muttering curses under his breath.

There was something about alternate dimensions in the mix, Dick did not like the sound of that.

Dick also did not like the total lack of intruder alert blaring when there was an obviously fake Batman in the room.

 

Just like summoned by his thoughts, the lights turned red, speakers droning on about an intruder. (Reaction time was less than optimal.)

Since Dick thought he had the intruder in front of him, he didn't even react to the sound, but Fake-Batman did, perking up and spinning around to access the console and entering a command to locate the intruder.

 

Which seemed stupid... Until the pinpoint in the map showed that the intruder was in the loading bay, not the common room.

 

He didn't have the time to react, because then Kid Flash barged in in full costume, followed by Miss Martian, Superboy and Aqualad, asking for a sit-rep, and Batman just ran for the door. (He couldn't believe he'd just been pulled a Batman on.)

 

"Talk about it later, there's an intruder in the loading bay... Well there is a second intruder in the loading bay."

 

Wally had disappeared in a blur and a red and yellow trace before Dick was even finished talking.

They all ran after him, Artemis joining them from a side corridor and accelerated when a loud squawk echoed back in the cavernous hallways.

 

They emerged in the bay to find Kid Flash sprawled on the floor on his stomach, fake Batman crouched over him with a hand firmly twisted in the shoulder of his costume.

The way this fake batman was touching Kid Flash did not look like he was actively hostile, but everyone still took on fighting stances when faced with Batman obviously looming over Wally.

 

Other Batman glanced at them, then back down at Kid Flash. "Look, kids, I don't want to fight you, I just want to get my Robin back, he's injured and he's alone in an unfamiliar place and he has bladed weapons with him today, if I'm not the one he sees first, he'll attack, so please stay behind me, I don't want you get hurt because you startled him."

 

There was a silence, everyone kept their stances, then Conner spoke. "Wait isn't Robin right there? What do you even mean by bladed weapons?"

 

Artemis cleared her throat. "Hey, Rob, wasn't Batman calling us kids that tipped you about him being mind controlled last month?"

 

The tension ramped up exponentially, Dick could feel Conner about to just pounce and ask questions later. "He's not mind controlled, he's an impostor, his jaw and form are all wrong."

 

Fake Batman growled under his breath. "I'm not an impostor, I'm an alternative version, and I am missing my Robin, which is a way bigger problem than you seem to think, because he's got swords and he's not in a good mood, and he will attack you if he sees you threatening me."

 

"Hum, can you let me up, now, mister not an impostor alternate version Batman?"

 

Alternate Batman looked down at the back of Kid Flash's head. "Sure, Wally, after you've promised you won't rush ahead to find my Robin and get yourself cut to strips in the process."

 

There were a few seconds of silence as Dick wondered how this Batman knew Kid Flash's name. (Not that Wally had the hardest secret ID to guess, but still.) And the others thought their own thoughts, before Kid Flash reluctantly spoke again. "Okay, I promise I will stay behind you, mister creepy."

 

There was a moment of total stillness (that Dick used to curse Wally's total lack of tact), and then Kid Flash was up, and had zipped himself to stand right next to Dick.

 

Batman-2 stood up briskly and smiled at them (and THAT was WAY creepy, even when he was being Bruce, Batman never smiled that widely, but in the suit, it was Joker's levels of wrong). "Now, Walls, you hurt my feelings."

 

Dick felt his teammates shiver in fear.

 

  
Other Batman seemed to dismiss them and turned around, walking over to the storage area's doorway, where he stopped and drew in a deep breath. His next word were bellowed in the growliest register of Batman voice Dick had heard from this fake version so far. "Robin! Report! Now!"

 

Even though Dick knew it wasn't his Batman, and he wasn't talking to him, he couldn't fight the impulse to stand straighter and take a breath to answer the command, though he stopped himself before actually speaking. Artemis was looking at him and snorting, so he glowered back at her.

 

Dick almost didn't hear the reply because they were pretty far behind Batman bis, and also because 'Robin' didn't bellow back, but he still caught it. "-Tt- I'm fine."

 

And that definitely wasn't Dick's voice, which was at once reassuring, after how much the fake Batman had been insisting that his Robin was dangerous, and absolutely terrifying because there apparently could be a Robin that wasn't him.

 

In the doorway, the alternate Batman sagged a little. His next sentence coming out in a more normal human voice. "Don't move, I'm coming to get you."

 

They all crept forward, enough so that this strange Robin's answer was easily heard. "I am able to move on my own."

 

They didn't see Alter-Batman anymore, but they could hear him perfectly, he sounded exasperated and fond at once, which was just another case in the creepy column, at this point. "Robin, I saw the Joker's crowbar connect with your ankle, it doesn't define 'able to move on your own' where I am concerned. So you're going to have to let me carry you around until I am satisfied that you didn't break anything and slash or you got that treated and have crutches, am I being clear enough?"

 

Silence rang clear for a few seconds, that Dick's team used to look at each other with raised eyebrows. Other Batman's voice rang again, closer to that commanding tone again. "Robin, am I being clear enough?"

 

"... -Tt-."

 

"Robin."

 

"Yes, Batman."

 

Megan set up a mental link between them. _"What's happening here? I've never heard you and Batman speak that way to each other."_

 

Dick frowned. _"I don't know, but this isn't my Batman, and this Robin isn't me, I sound nothing like that."_

 

 _"How could there be a Robin who isn't you, Rob? That's like unnatural."_ Wally asked.

 

"I am not a child!" The snotty, English accented, high pitched voice of that strange other Robin echoed in the cave.

 

"I am, sorry, BabyBat, but you're twelve, that essentially defines a child." Other Batman answered, sounding warm and fond and amused. "And you also may have a broken ankle."

 

 _"Same way there can be a Batman who isn't Batman, I guess, someone should go up and call the Justice League, things got really weird here, and we might need a medic."_ Dick answered.

 

Kaldur nodded, confirming his order, and Megan flew away and up in the corridor chirping a _"on it"._

 

Batman-2 emerged from the storage cavern with a very sulky preteen propped up against his hip. "Hey, I've got him, thanks for giving us space. Where is Miss Martian?"

 

Kaldur took a step forward to answer, since he was the leader. "She went back to the control room to mute the alarm and call the Justice League."

 

Batman-2 frowned. "You're working under the Justice League?"

 

It was Dick's turn to frown. "Why wouldn't we?"

 

Other Batman shook his head. "Extrapolating from my world. The Titans were never an extension of the league and we almost never called the adults when things happened."

 

 _"We? Why would Batman put himself in a we, while talking about what we are in his world?"_ Zatanna broad-casted, before continuing out loud. "Who are the Titans?"

 

"A bunch of incompetent teenager wannabe heroes, most of which are metas." The red green, black and yellow costumed kid on other Batman's hip answered, sneering.

 

Batman bis frowned down at the kid. "Robin, can you stop insulting everyone first chance you get? It is hurtful to other people, me included when you're dissing the team I founded."

 

Other Robin sniffed and looked away, face even more petulant, but Batman bounced him a little, eyes not leaving him and the kid turned his face away from his mentor even as he enunciated a "yes Batman" with the flattest voice ever.

 

 _"He's kind of cute."_ Artemis commented.

 

 _"What? He's a snotty arrogant brat, how do you call that cute?"_ Wally mentally exclaimed.

 

 _"Probably the same way she can can think the same of you, Wally."_ Megan laughed across the mental link, even though she wasn't there with them, making Zatanna snicker.

 

Tiny Robin turned his head to glare at Zatanna. "What's funny, Ha..."

 

Batman interrupted what Dick was pretty sure would have been an insult by clearing his throat loudly and gently but firmly enunciating "Robin..."

 

The kid tutted and crossed his arms, still glaring.

 

"Okay." Alternative Batman said. "Could you lead me to the infirmary? I didn't take the time to look at where it was on the map. We're in the mountain HQ, aren't we? It seems familiar, but I guess the floor-plan won't be consistent, things seem to be different here... Especially if you're the first Robin and not Tim?" He added looking at Dick.

 

Dick frowned. First Robin, as in there will be others? He guessed it made sense if mister entitled was this Batman's Robin, but still. "I am not Tim, whoever that is, and I am the only Robin there has ever been."

 

The kid's head turned sharply to examine him at that. "You're Gr-"

 

"Hey, no, BabyBat, not secret identities. They were still a very serious matter even in a team back on the first generation, so unless they tell you their other name, you use code-names, okay?"

 

"Aren't you hypocritical, mister Batman? You're the one who called me by my first name earlier." Wally accused.

 

Batman-2 smiled at him. "Well, I know YOU don't care much about outing yourself to your team, Kid Mouth. Flashes usually don't. That and I wanted to confirm it was you. Bart doesn't have the same hair color as you, but Irey does, and wigs are a thing too."

 

Wally frowned. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

 

Other Batman smiled even more (it was still unsettling). "You wouldn't, they probably don't exist yet in this world, much like little D here." The dark clad man said, jerking his chin at the kid still plastered at his side, then he stopped walking, frowning under the cowl (Dick could tell, he had experience with this cowl), and looking back again at Dick, more intently. "Or maybe that was a bad example... You're what, fourteen? I actually can't be positive that Baby Bat doesn't exist here. But for Bart, Irey and Jai, it still holds."

 

The preteen stayed silent, frowning a little at his nickname but not protesting it except for a light kick on his Batman's thigh.

 

 _"Is Batman that annoying too about saying things and not explaining them?"_ Conner inquired.

 

 _"No."_ Dick answered. _"When Batman doesn't want you to know things, he doesn't even allude to them, but I thought we established that this wasn't our Batman."_

 

"So." Artemis exclaimed, getting in front of the alternate. "I am curious, you said first about Rob, how many more Robins do you have?"

 

The kid sneered. "Only one worth mentioning."

 

Other Batman sighed at the little shit's attitude. "Technically, at my point in time, two, there's my Robin, and there's Red Robin, but I only 'have' the one, and not even all the time, but that wasn't the question, was it?" He adjusted his hold on the kid so he would be straddling his hip a little higher since he'd slid down while they were walking. "Little D is Robin number four and a half."

 

"How can anyone be 'and a half'?" asked Zatanna. (Good question, even though Dick was still reeling from the fact that there would apparently be at least three other Robins after him.)

 

The brat opened his mouth, but Batman interrupted him sternly. "If what you're going to say isn't respectful, I don't want to hear it." The kid frowned ever harder and sniffed, but kept quiet. "Batgirl doesn't wish to be included in the Robin headcount, which is her right, seeing how shitty B was to her, but in my opinion, she deserves to be acknowledged for stepping up to it, so she is 'and a half'. ... That's Batgirl number three I'm talking about, by the way, not the one you know."

 

"I don't know any Batgirl." Dick answered, perplexed.

 

Batman-2 huffed a laugh. "Oh, trust me, you know her. She's probably just not Batgirl yet." He stopped talking, face going somber. "When she steps up, could you ask her to make sure she always checks the peephole before opening her door? Even as a civilian."

 

"I sense a story." Wally piped up. "Shouldn't you not tell us about the future? That's the stuff that turns the space-time continuum on it's head. And now with what you said and the way you said there is a Batgirl two in your world, we know the first Batgirl is going to die."

 

"She doesn't die." the kid answered. (Respectfully, wow.) "But Batman here would still like for his former fiancée to avoid some events of her past. I suspect she would smack him upside the head if she heard him and tell him that what happened to her doesn't make her broken, and she doesn't need his protection."

 

"You spied on us."

 

"No I didn't, Fatgirl told me what Oracle told her about why the two of you broke off your engagement."

 

Other Batman narrowed his eyes at the kid, then turned back to Wally. "No, telling you about the future events that happen in our version of the future doesn't put anything in danger in this universe. I guess I should still restrain myself because if I warn you about things and they happen anyway you'll feel even more shitty about them, but that's about the extent of it. Which is why I will just tell you to try to be understanding toward Jay and not be as much of an ass to him as I was, because you WILL regret it for years if you do."

 

The last part was said while looking straight as Dick, and he fidgeted under the stare, feeling like he knew who this strange Batman was and not liking his conclusion one bit. "I don't know any Jays either."

 

"Good for you." Said the kid. Batman-bis cuffed him upside the head with his free hand and the preteen growled, glaring at his mentor.

 

"No, you don't know him yet, but you will. Be nice to him, he needs your affection much more than he lets on." The brat narrowed his eyes at his Batman but kept quiet.

 

They turned around the corridor and Kaldur pushed the door to the infirmary open.

Alter Batman strode in and deposited his little charge on the examination table, then crouched before him and started undoing the bright red shoelace of the kid's equally bright green left knee-high boot.

 

Which reminded Dick that the whole reason he had been carried was that he might have broken bones, yet the kid hadn't expressed any pain while they were walking. He either didn't feel pain for whatever reason, or was totally alright, or he had a pain threshold and self-control that were frankly absurd for a twelve years old.

 

Batman-bis carefully removed the shoelace all the way down and peeled the sides of the boots as far as they would go before grimacing. "I need to cut that off."

 

The kid's other foot connected with the cowled head and pushed his Batman's head away until he overbalanced and fell on his ass. "You will do no such thing." The kid announced, then he bent down over his own legs, pushed his hands along his injured one and the boot fell away. It was only because he was kind of expecting it that Dick heard the choked breath that accompanied the removal.

 

"Shit, Robin, can't you respect your own body? I bet you hurt yourself even more" Strange Batman yelled as he pushed himself back to a crouch.

 

"Pain can be controlled, you just disconnect it" The kid replied. Which was disturbing as hell, especially since he said it with the exact voice of Michael Biehn, the actor for Kyle Reese in Terminator 1.

 

"I regret making you watch the Terminator series if that's all you decided to take away from it. Also, each time that type of sentence gets past your lips, I want to break your mother's arm, just saying."

 

"Chill out, dickwad." The boy answered, that time with the voice of the Terminator in the second film, and his Batman shook his head with a snort. And Dick was feeling more unsettled by what that byplay probably meant by the second.

 

"Your comedic timing sucks, little D." Other Batman (he really needed another way to call him, this was getting ridiculous) chided, then he extended his hand to take the kid's ankle in hand, carefully examining it.

 

There were footsteps sounds approaching in the corridor, Batman footsteps. Dick relaxed a bit at the knowledge that they wouldn't have to deal with this insanity alone, while the fake Batman visibly stiffened where he was pulling an arnica gel from a cabinet, and his tiny Robin looked up with a slightly apprehensive face.

 

Batman reached the doorway and surveyed the tiny room, Megan floating behind his shoulder. The other, fake one, that seemed way shorter now that the real thing was around turned around from where he had been gently rubbing the gel in his kid's ankle and smiled. "Hi B, can you tell me where the X-ray machine is? I'm not familiar with these designs and I'm still not sure my Robin didn't break a bone."

 

Batman narrowed his eyes and stayed silent.

Dick knew that this tended to work on the more hardened criminals, but the Batcopy didn't falter, narrowing his eyes right back in a perfect reproduction of the famous Batglare™. They squared off like that for about ten seconds before the Batcopy (Dick thought he'd stick with that nickname, it sounded okay,) turned his head, poked his Robin in the thigh and turned back to glare at Batman.

 

The tiny Robin seemed as surprised by the action as everyone else in the room (except Batman, who never ever looked surprised, ever) for a couple of seconds, and then his eyes widened and he did a tiny laughing breath thing before arranging his face into another perfect copy of the Batglare™.

 

 _"Huh, I think team alternates wins?"_ Artemis asked.

 

 _"You might just be right."_ Wally answered.

 

_"I'm always right."_

 

 _"Flirt later."_ Dick interrupted them.

 

It was Batman that broke off. "Who are you? How did you get in there, and how come the computer only detects one intruder?"

 

"I'm not an android, if that was your question, and I know even if I answer these questions you'll annoy me for hours to test my answer, so all you're getting from me is silence until Robin's treated, deal with it, B."

 

"He's right." Black Canary's voice came from behind Batman and Megan. "Your paranoia can wait until after I took care of the little one."

 

The little one in question gritted his teeth at the address but stayed otherwise silent.

 

"I need to know who they are." Batman disagreed.

 

Bat-copy growled and then turned toward the kid when said brat tugged on his cape, They looked at each-other for a couple of seconds before the adult placed his fingers at the edge of the kid's green mask and inclined his head in question. The kid made a face, but nodded and lifted his chin to facilitate the removal of his mask.

 

Dick could almost see Batman choking on his own tongue as the Bat-copy's response to his question was to unmask his Robin, but they all stayed perfectly silent as the kid's adhesive mask was gently removed.

 

The Bat-copy rubbed his thumb along the kid's temple, then moved out of the way so they could see his face.

 

Dick, Bruce and Dinah took a sharp breath upon seeing the preteen's bare face, the others (except Wally) didn't get it.

 

Because on the examination table, the tiny kid in green, red, and black in the yellow cape looked straight into Batman's eye with bright blue eyes in the middle of a miniaturized version of Bruce's face.

 


	2. Unsuspected Charm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the wonderfull comments, I'm feeling so encouraged, it is great!

_Because on the examination table, the tiny kid in green, red, and black in the yellow cape looked straight into Batman's eye with bright blue eyes in the middle of a miniaturized version of Bruce's face._

 

If not for the hints Batcopy had let slip ( _"You wouldn't, they probably don't exist yet in this world, much like little D here." "Try to be understanding toward Jay and not be as much of an ass to him as I was, because you WILL regret it for years if you do." "Each time that type of sentence get past your lips, I want to break your mother's arm"_ ), Dick would have thought that these two came from a backward world where somehow Bruce was Robin and Dick was Batman, but in that case, it looked like the kid on the table (little D?) was Bruce's biological son, probably with someone dark skinned, based on his tan.

 

The silence stayed for almost a full minute, then Batman spoke up. "So, you are?"

 

The kid pulled the black hood of his cape (no, Dick was going to say cloak, because this, this deserved that word, plus, based on Bat copy's word, other Robin must have at least a dagger, and some wordplay just couldn't decently not be made) over his head until half his face was obscured by it, using the movement to subtly shift his stance, making himself seem taller and broader in the shoulder, pinched his eyes and declared, in a perfect imitation of Bruce's gravelly Batman voice "I am the Night."

 

Next to the examination table, Batcopy collapsed in fits of laughter. Dinah snorted, Dick tried to hide his own chuckle behind a cough, Wally snickered and Artemis giggled. The kid kept his face and posture perfectly straight, still staring at Batman.

 

 _"I am missing something here, aren't I?"_ Megan inquired.

 

Dick didn't want to answer out of loyalty to his mentor, but Wally relieved him of the task by snickering. _"That is one of Batman's favored lines. Brat just stole it."_

 

"Oh my god, Baby Bat, that was awesome." Batcopy gasped when he'd stopped chocking with laughter long enough. "I take it back, your comedic timing is great. I don't care what B says, for this, I am letting you drive the Batmobile when we get home."

 

It was totally eerie to see the kid's face morph the way it did, his eyes widened, then crinkled at the corner, fully visible as he tilted his head up in the light, while his lips pulled in a full, happy grin, and all of that with BRUCE'S FACE! Dick thought he might have a heart attack.

 

 _"Oh, wow. Okay you were right again, Artemis, the kid is cute."_ Wally conveyed.

 

 _"I am always right. But holly shit wow, I didn't think he could do this. I want one, can we have one?"_ Artemis continued. _"I mean, you're cute too, Rob, but..."_

 

_"What?"_

 

_"Oh, shut up, Wally."_

 

On the examination table, the tiny Robin was now cackling evilly at the promise he extracted from his mentor and trying to bargain the most out of his Batmobile ride.

 

 _"Adorable."_ Commented Zatanna.

 

Conner mentally grunted what had to be a reluctant confirmation.

Batman still stood frozen in place, Dick was pretty sure he hadn't moved an inch since little D had performed his imitation. (He wondered what D stood for.)

 

 _"Yes, that's something."_ Kaldur (KALDUR!) admitted. _"Based on the short Batman's words, we should get our own, in about twelve years..."_

 

 _"WE WILL???"_ Squeeed Megan at a mentally deafening volume.

 

On the examination table, the kid was declaiming that this was why Batcopy was his favorite partner, smile still in place, and face still tilted up so his Batman could stick the mask back on. (Dick was still about to have a heart attack.) He had bargained to pass the Batmobile at the drive-though in the patrol, Dick wanted to hug the brat.

 

 _"I can see why I'd"_ shit _"-iotic Batman loves him, that's pretty hardcore. I have no clue how he does it, by all right, he should be annoying, but..."_

 

 _"I KNOW RIGHT?"_ Zatanna and Artemis exclaimed at the same time, which was impressive in it's own right.

 

 _"Do you think I can hug him?"_ Megan asked.

 

 _"Huh, I don't think the crazy Batman was actually kidding when he told us the kid could cut people in strips..."_ Conner ventured.

 

Dick noted that they were all managing to keep their faces mostly straight even as they subvocalised like demented preteen fangirls at a rock concert, he was impressed (that word didn't even make sense 'im' 'pressed' grammatically meant not pressed, how could not being pushed on have any kind of logical link with the feeling of respect toward something? Also, it didn't have any logical link with 'de' 'pressed', that should qualify the removal of pressure... resulting logically in not being pressed, so being impressed, which actually wasn't what being depressed was about at all) he guessed their practice was paying off, not that it was the kind of thing he should be proud of, but... Meh.

 

 _"Yes, but Megan can phase through blades... Or even shape-shift herself out of the way... She's the only one of us who could get away with it... If you do, add extra hugging for me."_ Dick mentalised, having decided that restraint, image and decorum were overrated anyway.

 

 _"Me too!"_ Artemis tacked on.

 

 _"You don't think I could too?"_ Conner asked.

 

 _"Kryptonyte, I don't know if he's got some on him, but you'd better be careful for now."_ Dick said.

 

Batcopy finished smoothing his kid's mask back on, Dinah shouldered Batman aside to get in and retrieve the portable X-ray machine, Megan used the opportunity to fly forward and fearlessly pull the (very cute, very dangerous) kid into a hug.

 

The kid flailed his arms, yelling "unhand me, Harlot!"

 

Batcopy looked on to the scene, way too calm for the events and mildly enunciated. "Now, little D that's not a nice thing to say."

 

"Let go of me right this instance or I will sever your arm and use it to beat you up, martian! ... I have incendiaries, I am not afraid to use them!"

 

 _"Okay, this should definitely not sound as cute as it does, how the hell does this kid even manage that?"_ Wally marveled.

 

 _"No clue, must be a superpower of some sort."_ Answered Zatanna.

 

"You are aware that she's touching you and incendiaries would make you a collateral, right, Baby Bat? Your threats don't make a lot of strategic sense." Batcopy piped up, still mild, still looking halfway to laughing at the kid's distress, but at least half hiding it. The kid did catch him, though.

 

"Help me, you traitor! You can't just leave me alone in the face of this torture. I thought you were my partner!"

 

Batcopy blinked innocently and then slid on the examination table behind the kid and just hugged him too from behind. "You are right, Robin, what kind of partner would I be if I just left you face trials on your own without sharing them?"

 

The kid growled. "I hate you. So. Much. The Martian I can get, she's a female, they tend to get weird and don't have a preservation instinct, but you?"

 

Batcopy huffed a laugh. "Well, I love you, little D, that's why." He ruffled the kid's hair, removing his hand in a hurry when his teeth clacked less than an inch away from the offending fingers. "I am sorry for his latent misogyny, it's part of the bad habits he caught growing up, I thought he knew better, but then again, he is twelve, I guess he still thinks girls have cooties, or something."

 

The preteen momentarily stopped struggling, looking like a picture of unwilling stillness. (His sulky frown made him look kind of like a pug, it was adorable.) "I am not a child, and the concept of a gender-specific illness is absurd, that's not how infectious diseases work. You do know I had lessons about epidemiology as part of my training, G- Batman. Now let go of me, I know where you sleep."

 

"'Course you do, you not knowing where my room is would defeat the whole purpose of leaving the door open for you at night."

 

The kid growled and all of a sudden his hands moved and the Batcopy crumpled sideways (nerve strike, Dick hadn't thought the kid would do that to his very doting mentor), in the next second, the kid was crouched (on one leg, the injured one carefully held up and out of the way, though whether he was favoring or he was just complying with the Batcopy's wish for him not to aggravate his injuries was anyone's guess) two feet away from both Megan and the Batcopy, an arm long wakizashi unsheathed in his hand, pointing straight at Megan's jugular. (or where a jugular would be on a human.) "This is enough, I won't stand for this humiliation, take one more step toward me and I will aim to injure."

 

Megan stepped back with her hands held up. _"Okay, that got a little scary there. Totally worth it, though."_

 

Dick could feel Batman about to demand that the kid be restrained because he was aggressive, or something equally insensitive, but apparently, Dinah could feel it too, because she glared at him hard and he kept quiet.

 

The Batcopy groaned from where he'd fallen on the floor because of the nerve strike, the kid peered at him from his perch. "You brought that upon yourself, and totally deserved it, know that I feel no remorse whatsoever for my actions and will do it again if you repeat this offense." (Zatanna cooed in the mind link.)

 

Dinah just walked right up to the kid with the X-ray machine that she'd just finished checking and deposited it on the table right next to the kid, then just ordered him to sheath his weapon and stretch his leg on the table so she could install the machine over it. The kid froze and stared at her for a couple of seconds, then his blade disappeared.

 

Visually, it was reminiscent of how Kaldur retraced his magic water blades, but now that Dick was looking for it, he saw the blade slide into a holster camouflaged on the kid's thigh, it was pretty disturbing, because at first, it really looked like he was stabbing his own kneecap, but then the whole thing just kind of disappeared in what had to be way too short a sheath to fit the whole blade (so it had to be some kind of collapsible), and clicked in place. The preteen ran a hand over the handle, and the velcroed fabric stuck back around the now concealed weapon, but now that Dick knew it was there, he could see it, and also tell that the kid at it's twin holstered on his other leg.

 

The tiny Robin used his three mobile limbs to scoot in the position Dinah had required, then folded his good leg and rested his arms on it, lazily waving at his Batman who was slowly sitting up on the floor. "Feel free to step on him if he's in the way."

 

Dinah snickered as she set the device up without stepping on the recovering hero. "Though love, huh."

 

Batcopy leveraged himself up thanks to the table, still smiling. "Now, you only say that because you haven't seen him with the Reds. What was it you threatened RR with last week?"

 

The kid glared at his Batman, visibly not having forgiven him his previous indiscretion yet, but answered anyway. "I said that I would slowly eviscerate him with a dull teaspoon if he ever deliberately stepped into the path of my throws again."

 

Dick knew he kind of gaped, Dinah didn't but she did look a little unsettled even as she booted up the X-ray.

 

The Batcopy was still smiling. "And that's how I know he doesn't actually want to kill Red Robin." (Hum, wait, seriously, how do you get that from a freaking death threat?) "Because at that point, it would be easier to just throw the birdarang anyway, but Little D threatens to go specifically find a dull teaspoon before attacking."

 

(Ah.)

The tiny Robin was staring steadily at the Batcopy, staying perfectly still as the portable X-ray machine threw up a force-field to protect them from the radiation and took it's picture, then retracted. Once Dinah was tugging the radiography out, though, the kid's hand went to his utility belt, and he drew out a single silver spoon from a pouch, setting it gently on the table by his hip, still looking at his Batman straight in the eyes.

 

Dick had no Idea what the Batcopy would have said to that, because Dinah flicked on the light of the board on the wall and stuck the radio on it. "So, good new is it isn't anything major, bad new is you've got a Lateral Maleous hairline fracture in your Fibula, so it needs to be at least partially immobilized, try to keep your weigh off your left leg for five days, avoid rotating your ankle for a couple of weeks, don't add stress or do anything that might result in impacts on this leg for four weeks. I'd normally put a simple splint on, but you get the special 'bats are stubborn idiots' treatment, I am casting it, because otherwise I don't trust you not to just remove it and unnecessarily aggravate it."

 

(As Dinah spoke, Dick saw Other Batman covertly retrieve the spoon and disappear it somewhere. Dick was almost sure the kid had seen him do it, too, there had been a stillness just a bit too pronunciated when the strange Batman's fingers had reached for the spoon.)

 

  
The Robin kid sulked, grumped, complained and fumed through getting his pant leg cut, being padded up and the three layers of fiberglass.

 

Despite Dinah's stern lecture, she made the plaster only from mid-calf down, and only encasing the heel of the preteen's foot so it would still retain up and down mobility. She explained as she did that the Tibia was the bone that supported the weight anyway, so the kid was still able to walk (or would be, when the swelling from the crowbar impact itself receded) and it was in fact recommended, so he would not lose too much of his muscle mass or need reeducation, and the plaster was mostly there as a reminder that something was broken and needed not to be aggravated, as a shield so nothing could hit the weakened bone while it was in bad shape, and as a precaution against unconscious movements that solicited the broken area.

 

She added that it could normally be removed in a week when the break had started healing to be replaced by a splint, provided that his physician trusted him not to be stupid when he was not totally immobilized.

 

  
Dinah handed the kid a crutch, and they relocated to the briefing room, where Batman barely waited until the kid was sitting on a desk chair before turning on the alternate dimension Batman asking for answers. "Who are you?"

 

The Batcopy chuckled. (CHUCKLED!) "Are you sure that is the question you want to ask? Because at that point I will only be able to answer either 'I'm Batman' or say my secret identity, and you don't want me to say it." Much like the kid before, Batcopy said the 'I'm Batman' part with the exact same tone, cadence and voice as Bruce usually did, then slipped right back into his own, softer voice, it was disturbing.

 

Wally zipped forward at that, piping up. "Huh, secret ID aside, do you have anything other than Batman to call you by? Because I'm calling you mister creepy in my head, right now."

 

_"WALLY!"_

 

Dick really feared his stupid friend would get hurt on that one, but the Batcopy looked mostly amused. "You can call me Nightwing if you want to differentiate me from B, I still respond to it."

 

"Is that an alternative name for Batman? I have never heard it." Artemis interrogated.

 

Nightwing shook his head. "No, it is a separate superhero identity, my favorite one, in fact, you have no idea how fucking heavy being Batman is. And I hate the cape. Only thing that makes the whole thing worth it is having Robin." (Dick saw the kid smile from the corner of his eye.)

 

"You do not make sense!" Batman growled.

 

Nightwing seemed way too amused by the whole thing now that his Robin was treated. Dick didn't think he was obstructing on purpose, but he was definitely finding Batman's irritation entertaining. "I do, if you look at the bigger picture. I am Batman, and I am not you, and my Robin looks familiar, but shouldn't exist, and out of the two of us, only one was unknown to the security system and flagged as an intruder. I introduced myself as Nightwing because it is a name I have used to fight crime for the longest time. A name that might even mean something to you, depending on which version of it Superman remembers in this universe, and how much he speaks with you, these are pieces of a bigger puzzle that you can't put together just yet, but I bet Robin did, already, since I gave him more pieces to play with."

 

Most of the eyes turned to Dick at that, and half a dozen mental inquiries. (Gee, thanks, grown up me.) Batman was looking at him with a face that demanded Dick reported what he knew, so he spoke.

 

"Nightwing told us that his twelve years old Robin probably doesn't exist yet, in this universe, in between what had to be the last names of other Kid Flashes in his version of the future and what you'd call spoilers. He also called his Robin Baby Bat, and Little D and mentioned his mother, so Robin here isn't a clone of the one he looks like, but probably his son."

 

(The kid inclined his head either to let them know he understood they didn't want him to disclose exactly who he looked like, or to confirm Dick's theory, hopefully both.)

 

"The general security system in Mount Justice uses a long ranged DNA scan to confirm the identity of the persons inside, and a radio wave analysis system to identify non biological persons. The intruder alert only rang a minute after Nightwing appeared, and it was for his Robin, not him. So contrary to what he misled you into believing by removing his Robin's mask, Nightwing is the one who has a genetic makeup identical to one authorized in the system."

 

(There were other things, too, the personalized warning about 'Jay', and the way the little Robin, after being asked not to use names, specifically chose a Terminator line with 'Dickwad' in it to respond to Nightwing's scolding, but these were on the edge of dangerous for Dick's own identity, now or in the future, so he didn't mention them there.)

 

"So the question we have to ask ourselves, especially after Nightwing announced that Batman didn't want him to say his name, is who is authorized in here and is likely to become Batman twelve, or more, years in the future, and his identity becomes evident."

 

Too evident, Dick didn't want to be Batman, hadn't wanted to since that disastrous simulation in which he had had to assume the role of the leader and lead all his friends to their death by emulating Batman's ways, but there was no reason to fight reality, especially not when he saw how un-Batmanly Nightwing acted.

Dick's teammates stared at him, some doing a back and forth between him and Nightwing, trying to visually confirm what Dick had just said, but it was futile, with the cowl obscuring most of Nightwing's features and adulthood modifying the ones that were visible.

 

Batman turned back to his look-alike. "Long range DNA scans can be fooled with the right equipment and preparation, do you expect me to believe that without a proof, when this story makes a lot less sense than you being impostors and infiltrators? Kids all look alike, and there is very little exposed skin on this costume for the security system to use as confirmation of your identity."

 

Nightwing sighed. "And now we're back to square one, you want me to prove that I am who I am, but I can't use the things that you want to keep secret to prove it, and if I look at your Robin's costume, I can say there are bound to be big differences between this world and mine, so I can't use smaller facts either, because they could be inconsistent. Like I could say I used to climb on the chandelier when I was a kid, if your version didn't do it too, I only prove that I trusted the sturdiness of the fixation a lot."

 

 _"You do that?"_ Zatanna inquired.

 

 _"You have a chandelier?"_ Artemis asked almost simultaneously.

 

Dick crossed his arms. _"Yes, I have a chandelier, and I might have climbed on it once or twice when I was younger."_

 

Nightwing suddenly perked up. "Well, there is always my most unique talents, I mean, since Red Robin was able to ID me because of it, it should be distinctive enough to prove I am who I claim to be."

 

Nightwing then turned to stand next to his tiny Robin's chair and removed his cape and utility belt, dropping them on his partner's lap then ran full tilt at one of the walls.

 

Dick saw him, jump just at the right moment so he could put his foot on the wall and use the impact like a step, propelling himself up toward a rock ledge that he caught with one hand, before hauling himself up by it with what Dick could tell was perfect gymnast form (arms straight, legs straight, back straight, toes pointed, chin up, ten points out of ten). Once the man was on the ledge, he stood up, breathed deeply, and jumped, arms stretched out at his side.

(Posture still Olympic levels of perfect.)

 

It went extremely fast, acrobatics always did, but Dick was doing that since he was born, he was an expert at it, so when the man's torso suddenly inclined down, and his legs tucked in, Dick started counting, instinctively, the revolutions of Nightwing's somersault.

 

One, two, three... four, quadruple somersault, the figure that only the Flying Graysons had been able to perform in the whole world.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there might be errors, I apologize for them, English is my second language, I learned it in middle school, and I am, as I said, competing for the NaNoWriMo, which is all about how many words you write a day, so I check that the red underlines only appear when I did faults on purpose and I self-correct anything I see, but things get past me.


	3. Identity Trials

_One, two, three... four, quadruple somersault, the figure that only the Flying Graysons had been able to perform in the whole world._

 

Even as he tracked the spins his older counterpart was executing, Dick felt dread welling up, somersault were easy, but anything more that double, and you needed a catcher, because you always ran the risk of missing the trapeze from spinning too fast, and Nightwing was not only flying without a spotter, he was performing on the ground and without any kind of impact absorbing gear to soften his landing.

(Dick knew he would get away with that kind of stunt with barely a problem, but he was smaller, his weight to muscle ratio was more favorable.)

 

So unlike his teammates who had caught their breath when Nightwing jumped, Dick, tensed up when the acrobat neared the ground, trying not to think about his parents.

 

Nightwing proved his worries wrong by landing on his feet, then gracefully folding down and leaping forward in a follow up tumble to adsorb most of his momentum, stopping in a handstand, and then, in the most show-off way possible, opening his legs in a front over-split.

At his side, Dick felt Artemis shiver in sympathetic pain at the dolorous stretch that the pose should represent. (It kind of did, but much less than it legitimately should, Dick was freakishly flexible, he routinely needed to put his body in ridiculous positions to actually stretch his muscles properly after his workouts).

 

Nightwing finished up by leaning on one side until his right foot rested on the ground and then pushing himself off his hands into a standing stance. He bowed at them, then asked, smile still firmly in place (and still incredibly disturbing because of the Batman cowl). "So, convinced, now?"

 

Batman grunted affirmatively, and Dick said "yes" too, just to clear any remaining doubt.

 

 _"Wait, you can do that?"_ Zatanna marveled.

 

Wally nodded. _"Gotta admit this was impressive, you almost never do these kind of things, though."_

 

_"Yes, I can do that, but I typically keep the acrobatics to my free time, and with mats on the floor"_

 

 _"Huh, Older you has a very... Toned behind."_ Megan felt the need to point out. (Why she did, Dick had absolutely no idea, he didn't want to notice that, seriously.)

 

Pretty much everyone felt the need to comment on Nightwing's butt after that (Dick didn't see what the fuss was about), and he could sort of feel the intent to lift his cape and compare radiate off a couple of his teammates, and that, that was NOT astrous, at all.

 

"Not to belittle your skills, Robin, Nightwing, but surely other humans are able to do that kind of movements?" Kaldur asked, Which, fair, he was Atlentean, he'd never really tried acrobatics, but Dick disliked how close that came to his secret ID again. (Dick was pretty sure half the reason Kaldur even asked was to derail the asstic conversation.)

 

"Short answer to that question is no." (Not anymore.) "Trust me, I am the expert on this field, and that figure is pretty much impossible to pull, even with momentum and a spotter. I can think of maybe three people in the world that are the good age to be Nightwing and might accomplish a quadruple somersault, given a couple of years to practice on it, and they're all Olympic gold medalists, incidentally, one of them is Russian and the other two are Chinese, so none of them fit the bill at all."

 

Artemis stared at him. "Wait, you're Olympic gold levels at acrobatics? I mean, I know you're great and you have the most experience on hero work than any of us despite being the youngest, and you run damn fast and like to flip in the air when attacking from above, but that's a whole other level we're talking here."

 

Batman shot Dick a warning look and glared mildly at Nightwing for good measure.

(Hey, Dick was not the one that insisted Nightwing had to prove that he was who he claimed to be, the quadruple somersault's probably not even the worst he could have done in this case. And Dick was going to try and keep his own identity concealed, yes.)

Of course, Artemis would get what the Olympic gold meant, she was a top athlete in archery, she must also have spent whole afternoons stuck to the TV watching he peers compete for the most prestigious medal of them all, and wondered where she'd be if she signed up, Dick routinely did it, too. He looked her in the eyes. "Biathlon?"

 

"Mostly archery, but yeah, that too."

 

He nodded in understanding, there was a kinship there, for the vigilantes who knew they could get on the top three if they ever signed up with their peers, but didn't, and never would, because it was too dangerous to show the exact same level of skill in your civilian identity as they used when out in the field.

(Mathelete competitions were okay, since it wasn't as obviously his best skill when he was Robin, but Artistic or Rhythmic Gymnastics were and forever would be off the table for him.)

 

It was a little terrifying, especially just after he'd watched his counterpart do it and feared he's bash his head in on the unforgiving ground, but Dick had to keep his identity secret from his team, so he knew he'd have to reproduce the stunt so they wouldn't wonder and dig and find out the name of the only persons who could do that figure. (Like it had probably happened with whoever Red Robin was, in Nightwing's universe.)

Just like Nightwing had, he ran for the wall, jumped, braced a foot on surface at about shoulder level, used it to propel himself up, caught the ledge, pulled himself up ('watch your posture, boy, details are what make a good performance look great') and stood facing the room.

 

He breathed in deeply, put himself in the adequate mind space and carefully braced the middle of each foot against the ledge, then he let himself tip forward, then he was at just the right angle, he pushed hard with his legs and took off. ('There, arms wide, just like a bird, the public wants to see something breathtaking, Dickie.')

He didn't exactly calculate, there was no time for that, up in the air, but his mind's eye saw the trajectories, told him the best moment to tip his weight and tuck in so he'd be at just the right position to the ground after the fourth revolution and could land without hurting himself.

 

He closed his eyes so he wouldn't get dizzy and let his inner ear tell him of his movements. One. Two. Three... He opened his eyes. Four. He threw his shoulders back and unfolded his legs, hitting hard, legs straight, but letting the momentum take him forward an down, he folded, tipped, leaped forward, tumbled, landed on his hands, posture straight, toes pointed. (And shit, his cape was down by his hands, if his teammates were still 'ass-essing', he'd just given them a perfectly unobstructed view.) (Well, in for a penny...)

Smirking, he parted his legs, letting them fall into a front split (toes still pointed, that's what makes the whole aesthetic), then he consciously forced his muscles to go further, past the point where the stretch was an actual discomfort. (He could go further in overbend than Nightwing, it wasn't a surprise, puberty tended to reduce flexibility.)

 

When his legs were spread as far as they would go, he tipped his hips right until his foot was on the ground and pushed himself off with his arms, playfully keeping his left leg vertical as he did, and only letting it go down once he was fully upright.

 

He laughed his trademark Robin laugh and did a little reverence, revealing in the dumbfounded expressions on his team's face. (Batman was smiling, so either he was impressed, or he approved of Dick's save. It was sometimes hard to tell.) Nightwing actually applauded.

Which is of course when Artemis ruined it by noting that he didn't have as nice a butt as Nightwing yet but he was well in the way to get there down the mind link. And Zatana, Wally and Megan agreed. What the frick, guys!

 

Nightwing (unaware of the butt scrutiny he had been the object of, and probably still was) put a hand on his shoulder and complimented his technique. and, well, Dick knew his technique was great, but hearing it by someone who actually knew what they were talking about was really nice.

 

"Hum, you know they're discussing your... Thighs, right?" He couldn't help but mutter to his older counterpart.

 

"... I suspected. What else would you talk about if you had the ability to telepathically gossip around your elders? At least they're not doing it out loud. You'll get used to it. At least you've got pants."

 

"What? Why the hell wouldn't I have pants?"

 

(He might have said that a little too loud, Conner was now looking at him and Nightwing strangely.)

Nightwing shook his head and strode to his tiny Robin to put his cape and belt back on, leaving Dick unsure and really hoping that this was a joke of some sort.

 

The somersault was apparently enough for Batman to provisionally accept that Nightwing was actually an alternative universe's version of Dick and moved on to grilling him about what led up to their displacement into mount Justice. Nothing much, actually, they had been in a brawl against the Joker and his goons.

 

(That explained a lot about Nightwing's initial reaction to being teleported here, actually, leaving his Robin to fend off against one of Gotham's worse rogue all on his own had to be the stuff of his nightmares, and it explained why he had been much more relaxed right from the moment the brat had answered to his call in the loading bay.)

 

A hand grenade had been thrown at Nightwing, there had been a blinding flash, and he'd fallen to the floor in their common room, then he'd spotted the grenade, still live, and saw Dick and Zatanna, and he'd jumped to protect them with his cape, and Dick knew the rest of the story.

 

From the little Robin's side, came a similar tale, he'd retreated after the hit on his leg, unsure how well he could fight as long as he hadn't assessed the damage, and had taken to long range cover from the roof, he had seen the flash take his Batman away, had rappelled down to investigate, and then promptly disappeared in his own flash. He'd landed in the storage room, and Batman had come to him three minutes later at most.

 

Not satisfied, but accepting the lackluster data, Batman nodded and moved on to asking the visitors more about themselves.

 

Nightwing was twenty seven, in his world, it was also April, 2011, which meant he wasn't Robin from the future, but from a reality where everyone was born earlier. He had started being Robin when he was thirteen, five years older than Dick had (Dick was jealous for how much longer his alternate got his parents for. It wasn't nice, but it was there), founded a team with four other teen metas when he was fifteen (He had looked at his tiny Robin while saying it, and the kid had grunted and raised his chin, projecting disinterest), changed super-hero names at seventeen.

(There was a hardness in his eyes when he said that that part that suggested his version of Bruce might not have been as good as he could have on that one, Dick preferred not to think on it, it was clear that Nightwing's world and theirs were different, he wouldn't give himself a headache analyzing his counterpart's life.)

 

Nightwing skipped forward a whole section then, going straight to "a year and a half ago, Batman was believed to be dead after his battle against Darkseid, I had already stepped in as a filler once, and my little brothers made it clear that if I didn't do it again, then they would."

 

He looked at Bruce straight in the eyes, demeanor abruptly getting heavy and serious, and so much more 'Batman' than Dick had seen on his counterpart since getting tackled to the floor about an hour ago.

 

"With as long a period of observation as I had and an actual stay in the cowl, I know, that Batman is like some kind of parasite that eats all the life out of it's wearer, laugh by laugh, until the only thing left is the empty shell of an human being, only animated by sheer will and Batman's own perpetual drive to fulfill the Mission."

 

Nightwing Batman, huffed a particularly hollow laugh, as he certainly saw Bruce recoil just as clearly as Dick did, though the rest of the world would barely have seen a twitch. Dick would have wished not to understand the words Nightwing was saying, he really couldn't, because he could start to see it too. In Dick's head, Megan commented that the atmosphere had gotten way heavy, all of a sudden. Dick wondered if she meant psychically as well as metaphorically.

 

"That is the whole reason why Robin is so indispensable, and criminal uprising or not, will or not, I did not actually want to put myself in front of this particular fate. But as it turns out, there is something that appealed to me even less than attaching myself to Batman again, and it was watching my beloved baby brothers get eaten by that monster."

 

Dick could relate so well to the sour twist in Nightwing's lips, it was a bad situation, with only bad answers, and despite what he'd told Dinah after the doomsday training mission, Dick knew that if there came a situation where he could either descend into the darkness of being like Batman or let a loved one fall for him, he'd do the same as his counterpart and step up to it, no matter how much he hated it.

 

"I'm the oldest." Nightwing smiled, looking anything but happy. "I have the most experience, I had done it before, I have the right body-type. When I took the cowl, all the other competitors desisted. I took Babybat as my Robin, to protect me from Batman's darkness and to give him the support I could. B came back a few months ago, but he doesn't want to take his costume back full time just yet, and I don't want to let go of my Robin so soon either, so we're sharing right now." Nightwing smiled a bit more. "I'm the weekday parent, B gets week-ends."

 

Dick could see that this way to describe his relation disturbed Bruce, probably because he was obviously the other Robin's father, and Dick's guardian, and hearing another version of Dick casually cast himself as Bruce's divorced co-parent was kind of icky. (Dick agreed with him, ew. But on the other hand, major siblings becoming step parents to their orphaned younger siblings happened all the time, bothering was close enough in nature to parenting that it was possible to slide from one into the other.)

 

"You say you took the kid as your Robin to protect you from the darkness, but he's not exactly sunshiny, I mean, I can see it with Rob, but, he..." Artemis did Dick the favor of elbowing Wally in the rib before he could shove his foot in his mouth deeper than the knee. Dick cringed, the furious expression on the kid's face looked a lot like camouflaged hurt.

 

"Who said Robin had to be sunshiny?" Nightwing asked. "His job is to keep Batman from totally going into the darkness, we've all had our own way to do it, I tended to make the most outrageous puns ever, but that's not the only way to go about it." Dick didn't even know if his older self was noticing that he'd started drifting toward his kid as he spoke. "My Robin does it by hogging the darkness to himself and booting me to the lighter side. Of course I'd like him to be more happy, but the job is done, and anyway, aren't robins the first birds to sing at dawn? Robins are halfway in the night already."

 

By the time Nightwing was done talking, he was leaning on the back of his Robin's chair, it was kind of fascinating how relaxed he looked like that, as well as the way the kid eased up too, obviously more at ease now that his Batman was close by. Looking back, it was a pattern, when Nightwing was more than three paces away from him, the kid stiffened, became guarded and ready to act, as if he expected danger to come at him at any moment. When Nightwing was within arm's reach, he unwound, implicitly trusting the adult to defend him, but if Nightwing touched him, a part of the stiffness came back, either pride, or something darker, making him uncomfortable with being in contact, though in a softer way than isolation did.

 

And now, Dick actually suspected that the flailing hadn't been an act. Megan hugging him had actually frightened the kid, even if a part had been due to being flustered.

What the hell made a kid afraid of HUGS?

 

Dick could get why his older self was so protective of his bird. If it was Dick's emotionally fragile adoptive brother that had been foisted in his care, Dick would probably stick to him all the time too.

 

Of course, now that Nightwing stood propped on the back of his kid's desk chair, Batman's attention naturally drifted to the preteen too. Batman had been more or less ignoring the alternate Robin so far, or more like deliberately trying not to bring attention to the fact that he'd recognized his own face on the child.

The tiny Robin gave the barest hint of a smile at the attention, and raised his brow, artificially projecting ease by sliding down on his chair a bit and slouching.

 

Batman was visibly (for Dick) intrigued by the kid, it was, after all, his son in another universe. Bruce was curious by nature, and that was important information, on a personal level. (Batman always tried to look like he didn't take things personally, truth was that he did, all the time.) "So, how old are you, exactly?"

 

The kid's face slid into a perfect mask of disdain. "I would have thought you could get that information on your own, detective. Especially with the way that idiot." He waved at Nightwing. "Was yelling it all over the place earlier."

 

Said idiot was totally unfazed by the insult, or the attitude, and helpfully provided a warm, "Babybat is twelve, and not a kid." There was gentle ribbing in his words that were at the same time a warning to Batman not to go there. The kid growled and tutted, yet stayed put and raised his eyebrows at Bruce again, as if challenging him to ask a better question.

 

And how did you come in a position where Nightwing could chose you as his Robin?" That was a pretty transparent way to ask him more details on the relation between him and his world's Bruce without letting Dick's teammates in on the identity of his 'familiar' father. It was a risk, but it also had better odds of the kid answering graciously because Bruce was expecting him to say things without saying them, trusted the kid's talent to manage it.

 

The kid smiled. "My mother entrusted me into Batman's care a few months before the final crisis, because she couldn't protect me adequately on her own in the face of the events at hand."

 

Nightwing snorted and lightly ruffled his charge's hair. "I should have known you were both going to be all cryptic to each-other." He once against removed his hand just before something unfortunate could happen to it, but still smiled. "Should I be making popcorns?"

 

 _"Cryptic? Are they doing anything in particular? It did seem like a pretty straightforward answer, even if there could have been more sentences in the kid's explanation."_ Wally inquired, in a way that felt pointed more at Dick than anyone else. (Slimy traitor, he knew, and he knew Dick had to keep his and Batman's ID a secret.)

 

 _"It's not anything in particular, it's just a game of keep-away, other Robin answered Batman's question, nothing more, he's testing Batman to see if he can ask the good questions to get the information he wants, but at the same time, he made it clear he'd only answer questions he deems worthy of being asked."_ Dick clarified. (Well, partially, there was the huge 'and they don't want to say batman's the kid's father in front of you too', but that was the part that had to be hidden.)

 

"And then you trained until your version of Batman was believed to be dead? It seems like a short time." Bruce tried again

 

The kid looked utterly unimpressed. "No."

 

Nightwing smiled then ducked his head to it hide behind his hand. Batman gritted his teeth, Dinah's lips twitched, Dick's team mentally cringed, or applauded, depending on the person. Dick was trying on his poker-face, but seeing the kid exasperate his mentor was refreshing.

 

"No?" Batman prodded.

 

"No." The brat answered, a very smug expression on his face.

 

"Babybat was battle-ready when he joined us. So, no, his training period wasn't too short." Nightwing piped up, once more rescuing the conversation. The kid looked up at him slightly irritatedly.

 

Batman nodded at Nightwing and tried again. (There was something to say for his stubbornness.) "You were already trained at, ten? Eleven?That's awfully early." (Well, considering that Dick started out as Robin at nine... But looking back, he wasn't all trained just then, his acrobatic skills made him good at evasion, and Batman only took him along when he could be reasonably sure Dick wasn't going to be in too much danger.)

 

"No." The kid repeated. (Dick thought Batman was going to explode.) "I was trained to be field worthy much earlier than ten." He sighed, looked up at Nightwing, then added. "I was included on an actually difficult mission that required fighting for the first time at six, my first solo mission was at eight."

 

That was really awfully early. And aside from Conner, who was after all about one year old, and had been fighting for most of it, all of Dick's teammate expressed dismay at the numbers the kid was stating.

Batman stayed silent at the news, probably trying to guess who the boy's mother was, at the same time as he digested these news.

 

"My name is Damian." The kid offered up after a minute of silence.

 

Dick saw everything happen, like in slow motion.

The kid offering up a name, for whatever reason, that had probably as much to do with not being called 'you' and 'kid' all the time than getting closer to Bruce.

Bruce hearing the 'my name' and reflexively going in 'no secret identity mode', maybe even panicking that the kid would say his own last name, and glared at the kid.

The kid finished his sentence, without any incriminating last name, and saw the glare.

The preteen's whole face shuttered closed, hurt barely appearing before freezing out.

 

"Damian al Ghul."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, well, shit?
> 
> I am still on the fence about whether Batman will get punched for that one...


	4. Percussive Argument

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm playing loose and fast with Damian's storyline, fight me, I'm the author.  
> This is supposed to be pre-flashpoint, main continuity, Damian didn't die yet, but it's going to happen soon after the end of the fic, Goliath doesn't exist, Steph is batgirl, Cass is blackbat.

_"My name is Damian... Damian al Ghul."_

 

There was like a screeching record sound inside Dick's head. Bruce's biological son just called himself an al Ghul. Of course, Dick's mind helpfully provided an image of his guardian and Talia al Ghul getting fresh. (Because why not, right? Even his imagination was betraying him, now.) Promptly being replaced with an image of Batman and Ra's getting fresh, because Dick's imagination was an horrible thing that apparently didn't care that children were not made like that.

Batman-Bruce was staying suspiciously still, he looked kind of terrified, but not quite as surprised as he legitimately should have been, Dinah stared at Bruce with a mix of disapproval for making the kid upset enough to drop that bomb and disbelief at the notion that his son was an al Ghul.

Most of the team were standing in various states of disbelief, but they didn't know that this Robin was Batman's son, so it was the idea that someone of the League of Shadows' leading family became a Robin that was un-turbing them... Well, except for Wally, who was kind of leering, obviously thinking about Talia... (No, seriously, images were superfluous, abort!)

 

Dick was almost grateful that the tiny Robin didn't wait around for a response, because watching the boy propel himself upward, using Nightwing's shoulder as a perch, provided a welcome distraction from the train wreck of thoughts in Dick's head.

The kid - Damian, stood, right there, on his mentor's shoulder (cast leg still not touching anything) pulled a grapple gun from his belt, fired it at the ceiling in the middle of the room and swung for the room's exit.

 

Nightwing reached for the kid's crutch, yelled to get his Robin's attention, then propelled the metal and plastic straight to the kid. Damian caught the walking implement without any apparent difficulty, Nightwing nodded at the kid, and he spun around to disappear down the corridor.

 

Nightwing didn't turn around, still facing the exit, keeping Batman at his back. "Say, Wally, would you mind escorting Damian? He's got a good sense of orientation, but when he's angry he can forget to pay attention to his surroundings. I'm sure your teammates will tell you everything you missed."

 

Wally started, looking at the team, then at the door, then at Nightwing. "Huh, why me?"

 

"He knows who you are in our world, knows you're a friend of mine, and he actually has respect for the Flashes, even if he doesn't show it, just don't take any insult personally, he won't mean them, and if he pulls a blade, step back a bit, okay. Also, if you could avoid making fun of the elephant in the room, it'd be great."

 

Wally turned to them, looking mildly terrified by the prospect of having to be sensitive, so Artemis. "I'll go with him, make sure Kid Idiot doesn't make too big of an ass out of himself."

 

Nightwing smiled at her. "That would be great, thank you."

 

Wally spluttered, but let her tow him toward the exit.

 

Nightwing-Batman stayed still, breathing deeply, but he didn't have the time to brace himself like he obviously wanted to, because Batman spoke then. "This kid is dangerous."

 

Next thing Dick knew, the desk chair crashed to the floor and Batman stumbled back from the kick Nightwing had thrown at his head. No one had time to react before Nightwing caught handfuls of Batman's costume and backed him up against the computer console. "So am I, and if you say that kind of thing again, you'll find out exactly how much, B."

 

Dick stepped forth out of pure instinct, but Dinah stopped his with an arm thrown in front of him and shook her head.

 

"I'll wager you already noticed that just you hurt Damian, but I doubt you realize how much you fucked up on that one, so let me clear it up for you." Nightwing Batman growled in Bruce's face.

 

"Damian grew up in the league of assassins, he was trained since birth as Ra's heir, he was a prince. Until the day he and his mother found out that Ra's was planning to sacrifice him and take his body to replace his decaying one. Talia took him to us, for protection, and then, he learned that the man who had been his hero since he was able to understand Talia's stories despised everything he was, everything he had done, everything he trained like hell for, every single thing he had been taught to be proud of. Yet despite how hard Batman was to him, he changed, he stopped killing because we asked him to, he chose us as his family. And for that, Talia disowned him and declared him an enemy of the al Ghul family, and of the League, he hasn't used this name since then. Now, can you get a clue how badly you needed to hurt him for him to call himself an al Ghul in reaction?"

 

Batman glared down at Nightwing. "Yes, I do have a better understanding of what just happened, but I don't see how you could have expected me to know that before you even told me."

 

Nightwing held Batman for a few seconds longer, then he wound down and let go of Batman's costume. "Indeed, why would he be sensitive to criticisms? Especially coming from you? Want it or not, your actions have the power to hurt him more than just about anyone else, besides his mother, it would be good to keep that in mind next time you speak to him."

 

 _"I'm still not clear on what just happened, actually? Did someone catch it?"_ Megan asked.

 

 _"It's complicated. Batman wasn't happy with Damian saying his name, since it is terrible for keeping secret identities, Damian saw it, got hurt and angry and decided to say his mother's name in retaliation."_ Dick sighed.

 

 _"So he is Talia al Ghul's son? I was wondering if he was Ra's, actually."_ Kaldur piped up. _"But that didn't make much sense with the getting past the security because of his father thing from earlier."_

 

 _"No."_ Artemis chimed in, despite being out of the room. _"His father is Batman, isn't he? You have all been very careful not to tell us who he looked like because he's got the same face as his dad, and that's why Batman didn't want the kid to tell us his full name."_

 

"Not knowing is not a good enough excuse." Said Dinah, face still grim. "The kid is Robin, what made you think your disapproval wouldn't hurt him?"

 

 _"Yeah, that's the gist of it."_ Dick sighed, resigned. _"And as you have missed the explanation, Damian took it really hard because he chose his father's family over his mother's and Batman not wanting him to use his name, and not trusting him not to say it...Well, it looked like a rejection of their link, I guess."_

 

Conner grunted. _"Yeah, that kind of thing is a bit hurtful."_

 

Dick winced, and wondered if he should tell the adult to stop skirting around the dad issue since the team had guessed, but he decided to leave it, he was sure Wally would do it for him soon enough.

 

Batman gritted his teeth. "Okay, you have both made yourselves clear, you don't trust me around the kid, do we need to harp on on that for an hour?"

 

"And there! You totally missed the point! It's not that we don't trust you, it's that we want you to be aware and cautious." Nightwing exclaimed. "You can interact with him, but you need to avoid judging him and you absolutely can't scold him, that is not your privilege."

 

"Oh, so it is yours, then?" Bruce asked.

 

"Yes, it is." Nightwing answered, eyes narrowed. "It is because he's actually my Robin, not yours. I am the one who chose him, I am the one who took care of him and gave him tips and praised him when he was doing good. I am allowed to tell him when his attitude is not adequate because I have made sure that he was aware I love him, and that him not obeying me will never make me love him any less. I can because I know how to do it so he knows it is his actions that I disapprove, and not him. You, on the other hand, don't know the first thing about him, and haven't proved that you even care about him, how do you expect him to take criticism from you gracefully then?"

 

The Batmans (Batmen?) stared at each-other for a while, but Dick missed a part of the showdown because Wally chose that moment to say something incredibly stupid in the mind link. _"So... Batman and Ra's al Ghul's daughter have a son... it means they had to have sex, doesn't it?"_

 

Dick groaned internally, but made sure to project it down the link. _"Please, never put Ra's al Ghul, sex and Batman in the same sentence ever again."_ Dick felt the ripple of repulsion running in the mental link, accompanied by a couple of eww's. _"Also, aren't you supposed to be looking after Damian right now, why the hell are you speculating on my mentor's sex life?"_

 

 _"Artemis and him are sitting on a ledge not talking right now, and she keeps glaring at me each time I open my mouth, I am bored."_ Wally explained.

 

 _"I am glaring at you right now too, I'm trying to have a moment, shut the fuck up."_ Artemis called, making the rest of the team smile.

 

In front of them, Nightwing and Batman had apparently gotten their silent points across, because Batman nodded the tiniest bob of the head, and Nightwing rotated toward Dick and his team. "Well, now that this is done, I'd probably better go check on Robin. You can tell where people you have a mental connection with are, can't you, Miss Martian?" Megan nodded slowly, looking a bit guilty at the mention of the link. "Oh, don't look like that, I was part of a teen hero team too, you know, I know you bunch are being way too quiet. You don't banter, you don't joke, you don't plot, you don't yell at one another, either you're the most dysfunctional team I've ever seen, or you just have another way of talking among yourselves, and since I know martians have telepathy... Well, it's not even really a leap in logic to conclude you have some kind of mental chat going on."

 

Dick noticed nothing had been said about his own warning, but then, it seemed like Nightwing had noticed them having silent conversations before then.

 

The team shifted a little under the amused eyes of the adults, so Dick took point, smiling widely. "You can't very well put us in an undercover operations team and expect us not to get sneakier, now, can you?"

 

Batman sighed (it was actually his version of a chuckle) and shook his head. "Just go, guide Nightwing to where Kid Flash and Artemis are." His shooing gesture encompassed the whole team, and Dick started to turn away when Batman called. "Robin, a word."

 

Dick froze, his team looked at him with concern but filled out nonetheless, Nightwing glanced from him to Batman, but didn't express any concern, instead smiling at Bruce and nodding.

 

Batman frowned at Dinah. "Alone."

 

Dinah raised her brows at him, but walked out without a complaint. (It looked familiar.)

 

"What is it, Batman?" Dick asked, standing straight.

 

Bruce didn't answer, punching the intimacy commands in on the keyboard at his side. The door closed and locked tight, and a blue light flashed on the lamp on the corner of the room. Then Batman turned to him and pulled his cowl back.

 

"I know this really isn't the place, but... Do you feel that way?"

 

What way? Dick almost asked, before he thought again of what had just happened, the way older him had immediately defended his kid against Bruce, hadn't waited for explanations before striking, of all the things that had been said. Nightwing obviously didn't trust Bruce with his charge's emotional well being, and Bruce was worried that Dick didn't actually trust him either.

The question was simple, the answer was tricky. Did Dick also think that without due warning, Bruce would have continued stomping all over Damian's insecurities? ... Yeah, probably, but not on purpose. Did Dick ever doubt that Bruce loved him? ... No. Not truly so, but...

 

Robin was rarely honest out loud, but he thought he couldn't really answer Bruce without being a little hurtful himself too. "When Nightwing went in the storage area, he had this... Voice when he spoke to Damian, it felt, soft, warm, it was so obvious he loved his Robin, called him Babybat, came out of the room carrying the kid on his hip. ... And I was jealous. Even though I knew he wasn't you. Not only there was a Robin who wasn't me, but his Batman very obviously doted on him like you never really did to me. And the kid didn't even appreciate it." Bruce had a very pained expression on, and Dick smiled sadly. "And them, Nightwing spoke of his own teen heroes team, and called me the first Robin, and I started suspecting he was actually me, and I felt like such an idiot for being jealous in the first place."

 

Bruce sighed. "I know I'm bad at saying it, but I do love you, Dick. I probably don't say it enough."

 

Dick breathed in deeply, blinking fast against the sudden emotions. Not enough? He could count the number of times Bruce had said that on one hand. "And you're proud of me?" He prodded, meaning it like a joke.

 

Bruce took it seriously (he always did). "Every single day, Dick, every single day."

 

Okay, this had to stop or Dick would cry, and it just didn't go with his young adult image at all. "Okay. So I know you're bad at this and everything, but the mood is all fuzzy anyway so I demand a hug, we won't speak about it to the team, since I'm trying to be all grown up and everything, but I am not backing down."

 

Bruce made an exaggerated horrified face at the suggestion, but Dick didn't pay it any attention and walked right into Bruce anyway, looping his arms behind his back under the cape and pressing his face in the bat on Bruce's chest. Hugging in graphite reinforced Kevlar armor definitely left something to be desired, but Dick couldn't bring himself to care, because Bruce carefully (a little clumsily) pressed a hand against his back, running the other one in his hair.

 

 _"Okay, so the kid is still a little shit"_ Artemis declared in the mind link, because of course.

 

 _"Shut up, I am concentrating."_ Dick grumbled, squeezing a little harder at Bruce's waist.

 

 _"Sorry."_ Megan sent back, sounding genuinely contrite. _"I'm muting the communication toward you. Emergencies only, call when you're done concentrating."_

 

True to her word, the link dampened, still there, but not sending his way anymore. Bruce squeezed his shoulder. "You okay, son?"

 

Dick shivered. "Yeah, sorry, just thinking. You know I love you too, right. And I don't actually doubt you care for me. Being jealous was stupid, because you wouldn't be you if you professed your love as easily as Nightwing does, and it's really you that counts, not random other Batmans ... Batmen?"

 

Bruce hummed. "Batmen is more grammatically correct. And he's not random, it's you grown up, he's got to be fantastic too." Seriously, Bruce, all this praise in one hour? He was going to overload or something. "Can I let go now?"

 

... Okay, taking the complaints back. "No." Dick squeezed harder, growling a little. "I don't know when next time's going to be, so I'm going to make the most of this opportunity. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, You have the right to speak to a lawyer and to have them present during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, you can also call Alfred. You can stop talking at any point of the questioning. Do you understand your rights?"

 

Bruce laughed at the speech. "Really, you're arresting me? I plead innocence of the fact you accuse me of, I have an Alibi, I was spelunking. Also, Alfred would totally be on your side, I demand to be appointed another attorney."

 

Dick snickered. "Fine, you can have Clark or Dinah."

 

Bruce pulled a face. (Dick couldn't see it, but he could feel it.) "Hum, no, I'll keep Alfred, after all."

 

Dick finally took pity on Bruce when he started squirming and realized him. "Okay, I'm done." He stepped back and smiled. "So, am I going to have a little brother soon?"

 

Bruce grimaced. "I don't think so, but then again, my counterpart in Nightwing's world probably didn't know of Damian's existence either or he wouldn't have stood for what he lived through. Or at least I hope so."

 

Dick frowned at Bruce, not liking the gloom clinging to his voice. "You saw how protective Nightwing is of Damian, he wouldn't even agree to share him if the other world's you was the kind of asshole who leaves a vulnerable child alone with Ra's al Ghul."

 

Bruce sighed and nodded. "You're right, it's just... The way he's protecting the kid against me... I should not be unloading my worries on you, sorry."

 

"Hey, it's alright, you didn't know Nightwing had already warned him against names, you didn't know it was such a sore spot, so yeah, you could maybe have guessed faster, you could have trusted the kid, you didn't, it was kind of shitty of you, but it's happened, now you work past it. If Nightwing's words are the truth, you could have done a lot worse too, and that's probably why he was so hard on you. Just give the kid a large benefit of the doubt and refer to Nightwing when you're not sure about stuff."

 

Bruce smiled. "You're right, I'm probably making mountains out of molehills. I feel a bit like I did when I first took you in."

 

"Sad and angry?"

 

"Clumsy and terrified of breaking something if I misstep."

 

Dick smiled tightly. "Hey, kid may be a bit emotionally fragile, but he survived the League of Shadows, give him some credit, okay."

 

Bruce nodded decisively and pulled his cowl back on, signaling the end of the heart to heart. (Dick was relieved, talking about feelings with Bruce was reminiscent of pulling teeth, he felt way too drained for such a short talk.)

The cowl settled back, and Bruce pressed his hand to the eyes to stick the eyelid parts correctly.

 

Not a second too soon, because a moment later, a flash lit the whole room (good thing the masks' lenses had automatic anti-blinding light filters when luminescence changed too abruptly) and a dark form sailed across the room, ending it's course against the wall, about twenty wards away from them with a thud, followed by a hushed ouch.

The intruder fell away from the wall and down to the ground, displaying a high level of skill in the way they pushed away from the wall to add an horizontal impulse to their fall and rolled upon landing despite having just crash-landed on a wall at a pretty impressive speed that had to leave them at least a little stunned.

The intruder came to a stop in a low, wide braced crouch, a staff unfolding in their hand with a mechanic sound.

 

They... He. He wore red and black, with a yellow utility belt and had a cowl that could have passed for Bruce's were it not for the lack of Bat ears.

 


	5. Answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration was slow coming for this chapter... I think it's adequate, well I hope so.

_They... He. He wore red and black, with a yellow utility belt and had a cowl that could have passed for Bruce's were it not for the lack of Bat ears._

 

This time the alarms started blaring right away, information light turning red and blinking, the generic (and mildly annoying) registered voice calling intruder over and over again while the previously locked and secured door changed to green setting (only going to open after identifying authorized personnel).

The intruder's eyes shifted over the room, cataloging, assessing potential exits, what he could use as weapons, shields, or defensible positions, the best offensive positions, and routes to any potential exit, Dick could tell, it was what he would do if he was the intruder (Artemis would too, most of his team hadn't been trained that way yet, though).

 

There was something in the position, perfect down to the position of his staff in rapport to his toes, just the right angle to shield his whole body at a moment's notice should he need to, that screamed to Dick (but not in a language he was quite fluent in yet).

Then there was how the intruder just held his defensive stance, not attacking despite being the one who wasn't where he was supposed to be, he acted like he wasn't prepared to be there and defaulting to defense.

 

And there was the red and black and yellow.

 

 _"Robin, what's your situation?"_ Megan asked urgently.

 

And there was how much his uniform looked like Dick, no yellow inside the cape, red hip patches indent up instead of down, but still incredibly similar to Dick's own.

 

 _"Probably not in danger."_ Dick sent back.

 

Nightwing's words came back to mind. ( _"Especially if you're the first Robin and not Tim"_ )

Batman was doing this thing where he didn't move but could attack in half a second if needed, and the intruder kept staring right between the two of them, in a vacant kind of way that meant he was using his peripherals to see everything a hundred sixty degrees around himself, not excluding anything as a potential threat. (Yes, Dick could say even with lenses and a mask, it was in the shape of the eye opening. Batman did it sometimes.)

 

 _"What do you mean, PROBABLY not in danger?"_ Wally gritted out, Megan having visibly restored the mind link fully. _"I'm here."_

 

The lamp over the door blinked, announcing someone was identifying themselves.

 

_"I mean I think it's another visitor from Nightwing's world, hero, probably. Could be a younger Doctor Mid-Nite "_

 

Or not. "Are you Tim?"

 

It was either the wrong thing to say or the exact good one, the intruder went totally stiff. "Who are you?"

 

The door finally started opening, and Wally was inside before it even cleared knee height, zipping himself forth to stand at Dick's side.

 

Dick reached out and caught Wally's uniform, other hand snatching Batman's cape, letting them know he didn't wish for them to attack (he wasn't kidding himself enough to think he was going to hold them back worth a damn). "I'm Robin."

 

The intruder (Tim?) narrowed his eyes at him. "You supposed to make me believe you're an alternate me? You've got the uniform all wrong."

 

 _"Nightwing says that fits Red Robin's description."_ Kaldur informed them.

 

The intruder's eyes danced over them, sliding over Wally with a frown, then flickering over to the opening door. "You're not me." he said, decisively, then his eyes went to Dick's face, then to Wally, and to Batman, before focusing back on Dick, still crouched low and wide. "Dick?"

 

Dick glanced at the door. "Let's not say that again, my ID's supposed to be secret, Kid Flash knows, but the others can't."

 

The intruder's eyes flitted around again, then fixated back on him. "You're Robin?"

 

Dick nodded. "Nightwing Batman says you're Red Robin?"

 

The cowled hero abruptly lowered his chin, in what roughly amounted for a nod. "You're the first Robin." Dick nodded again (Red Robin didn't act like he was slow on the uptake, why was he...) "And you've got pants."

 

"What is it with your universe and pants? Of course I've got pants, why wouldn't I have pants? Do I look totally stupid to you?"

 

Red Robin smiled and slowly rose from his defensive crouch. "You're right, why not pixie boots while I'm at it." It was delivered with a sarcastic tone that suggested this was some kind of inside joke that Dick was outside of.

 

 _"It's probably Red Robin. No need to panic. I think."_ Wally called out to the rest of the team. (Wally had the decency not to publicize his amusement at the pants thing on the link, but really, that shit-eating grin was not justified anyway.)

 

"We need to cross-reference with what Nightwing told us. See if his versions matches." Batman announced (for Wally's benefit, Dick already knew that much).

 

"Malone." Red Robin tacked on, a propos of nothing. Or so Dick thought until he noticed that Bruce had stiffened at his side.

 

"Okay, I can believe you were Robin in your own universe." Bruce said. "Still need to check in against Nightwing's version."

 

"Why should I believe you, Nightwing's retired." Tim prodded.

 

"He told us to call him that when we asked for something that wasn't the other fake Batman from an alternate dimension." Wally provided, earning himself a Batglare™ for his effort.

 

"I'll get the most sensitive one out first, then before the team reaches us, how did you ID Robin?" Batman interrogated.

 

Red Robin stared at them hard then answered. "I ID'ed Nightwing because of a near impossible family move he used, then this ID led to Batman's and Batman's led to Robin's as he had the same link to Batman's ID as Nightwing had had when he was Robin and all their ages and heights matched the heroes."

 

(Nicely done without actually revealing anything, Dick, and Bruce, could make out how this sentence wouldn't have told them anything if they didn't already know what he was speaking of, but still said enough to actually confirm it since Nightwing told them.)

(The bit about the next Robin was at once terrifying and a little heartwarming. Dick guessed that the idea that there would be another Robin had had the time to settle, so it didn't bother him quite as much anymore. The idea that Bruce would take in another kid was... On the one hand, Dick had always kind of wanted a little brother, on the other hand, he felt possessive of the affection Bruce gave him and didn't want to share)

(Nightwing's warning to be nicer to Jay made a lot more sense all of a sudden, was it the next kid? Did he run away because of Nightwing's actions?)

 

Dick went next. "How old is Batman's son?"

 

Tim frowned, but still answered. "Ibn al Xu'ffasch was removed from his artificial womb twelve years and two months ago, but by that point he had spent eleven entire months incubating, so the basis everyone, even himself uses as his birthday to calculate his age is false by fifty nine days on the scale regular humans use to count their growth."

 

Red Robin was apparently an expert at wiggling around giving out important information, and in this case, the use of Arabic in the answer was very specific, it sounded like he was purposefully trying to lead them away from the thought that Damian was Batman's son while it was the obvious question. Or more like he was dissociating Batman's son and Robin.

(The information he gave them was also incredibly specific, and Dick suspected Red Robin was purposefully over-feeding the Intel so they would have more chances of getting it confused later on. But the image it depicted was more than a little disturbing. Weren't the first months very important in a baby's emotional development?)

 

 _"ETA, two minute, everything's still ok?"_ Kaldur asked.

 

 _"Yeah, I confirm we're not under threat."_ Dick sent back.

 

 _"What's taking you slowpokes so long?"_ Wally added.

 

 _"little Robin's leg is broken, I thought you'd remember that much, Kid Flash"_ Artemis threw back.

 

"If Robin was to carry a piece of silverware around because of a promise to you, what would it be?" Batman asked. (It could seem stupid, but most of the time, when people prepared joint alibis, it was the small details that betrayed them, not the biggest things.)

 

Tim's eyes went wide at the implications behind that question, because despite being asked in a way that didn't answer itself, it meant they knew about it. (And the only way they'd know about was if...) "The Demon Brat's carrying a spoon around? I called it! Murderous little shit!"

 

"How old is Batman?" Wally piped up while Dick and Bruce digested the information.

 

"I am not totally stupid, I'm not going to give you the actual age if it's not possible to visually guess it, it would help thin out the potential candidates too fast, but he was in his twenties when he started out fifteen years ago."

 

"That's not what he told us..." Wally frowned.

 

"Oh, the other one? Well, he is less than thirty, but not quite as far away from them as his pretty face would suggest."

 

Red Robin looked up and toward the door in the middle of his sentence, smirking, so Dick wasn't surprised when Nightwing's voice called back. "You really think I'm pretty?"

 

Red Robin (no, Dick was going to call him Tim, it was shorter and the name Robin was already taken, twice) grinned widely. "And now, you're just fishing for compliments." Tim had unwound during their exchange, and apparently seeing Nightwing Batman was enough to clear the remaining suspicions. "We've got to stop meeting like this."

 

"For once I agree with you, pretender, I would gladly have gone another month before seeing your useless face." The other world's little Robin, Damian calls.

 

And Dick would turn, watch the speaker, greet his team, but Tim's half face (and the other one, hidden, but similar enough to Bruce's own Batman mask that Dick could read it almost as well as a bare face) was moving in totally fascinating way (in a horror movie kind of meaning), the warmth fled, but the small uptick of lips stayed, his eyelids lowered a fractions, then his shoulders pulled down and forward, in exhaustion more than anything else.

There was a layer of wariness and another one of distaste, and everything seemed painted over with humor, sarcasm, except of the kind you use when you don't have anything else to put up as a shield anymore, the kind that's not actually humor even though it might look roughly like it, and Dick wanted to turn around, look at his older him, search for a clue, any kind of clue, that the man knew how much pain Tim was in, but he was still magnetized.

 

"The feeling is mutual, Robin, unfortunately, I can see even more of your face than you do mine."

 

"Boys, can we spend a whole minute in each-others general vicinity without lobbing insults at each other?" Nightwing cut in with a very parental sort of voice. (That happened to sound a bit like the Batvoice™, actually, was it because he extrapolated his parental comportment from Batman? Because love him or not, that didn't sound like such a good idea.)

 

"You said no real names." Damian answered right away, having apparently decided that it meant he could get away with as many insults as he wanted. (It was probably wrong for Dick to be proud of the brat, wasn't it.)

 

"The Demon Brat has a point, you can't really expect him to be polite AND obedient, he isn't polyvalent enough for that." Ouch, so apparently, Bruce can't glare at Damian, but Tim can insult him.

 

But on the other hand, Bruce was the boy's dad, Tim was... ( _"My little brothers made it clear that if I didn't do it again, then they would"; "there is something that appealed to me even less than attaching myself to Batman again, and it was watching my beloved baby brothers get eaten by that monster."_ ) Tim was Nightwing's little brother, just like Damian was, and neither of them seemed to want to share. That had to be a very uncomfortable position for Dick's older counterpart. (And Dick thought again on how he himself didn't want to share Bruce's affection with an hypothetical little brother and cringed.)

Batman grunted but kept quiet as he turned to the computer's commends again to override the alarms.

Dick finally managed to detach his eyes from Tim, turning around to see his team plus Dinah and the two alternates filling back in, Nightwing wore a look of exasperated fondness. (So, no, he probably hadn't caught Tim's suffering.)

 

"Tt- and you pretend to be more polyvalent than me, do you, cast-off?" Damian snarled, embedding the pained look further into Nightwing's face.

 

"You mean like the time I captured a criminal while kicking your ass, bratling? If you need your memory refreshed, I'll gladly break your face again."

 

 _"Wow, that's... Not at all the same atmosphere as before."_ Megan cringed.

 

Damian's answer was forestalled by Nightwing. "Red Robin, you're five years older than Damian, can't you try to be above the petty infighting?"

 

"I'm sorry, Batman, but Damian's aggression stopped being anything remotely close to petty infighting at the second assassination attempt, and I stopped thinking ignoring his comportment was a good idea at the third, when he CUT MY LINE while we were supposed to patrol together."

 

Damian crossed his arms, looking anything but remorseful, and Nightwing sighed. "Do we need to go through the whole argument again?"

 

Dick actually turned his head to see Tim cross his arms. (The staff had disappeared.) "Only if you insist on forcing me to act civil to that little shit while he is still waiting for the occasion to murder me. I am not THAT forgiving."

 

Playing head ping pong was ridiculous, but Dick still wanted to see both parts of the argument so he did it anyway. Damian had his arms crossed and was harboring an expression of utter contempt, but not trying to argue the point, and Nightwing was two seconds away from facepalming.

 

(Dick inconspicuously moved closer to hes team and a bit to the side so he could see Tim and the alternate at the same time.)

 

"As fascinating as this is, I think we really need to get into what's causing your appearances." Batman cut in. "Red Robin, can you tell us what happened right before your displacement?"

 

Tim tilted his head to the side. "Well, I was in San Fransisco, slow day at the Titans, we were just chilling and I wanted to test the buoyancy of my new cape design, so I got Kon to be my spotter and jumped from the roof of the tower, next thing I knew there was a flash and I was inside a rock room without the needed volume to actually fly. My team must be freaking out big time, right now."

 

Tim grimaced as he didn't mention his crash landing into the wall.

Not commenting, Nightwing filled his ally in on his and Damian's displacement, and the newcomer hummed in consideration.

 

"If the cause is on our side, it is either from a long distance or a delayed activation sort of thing. Best guess is magic, though I can't rule out technology right away. With just three targets, it's a little hard to tell what the goal was, but there is already a bit of a pattern to be seen, we have all been Robin at one point or another, and all appeared in world in this world Robin's general vicinity. So he probably is the focus of the spell, Raven explained to me how badly phrased spells could take a few liberties too, so maybe it was aimed at Batman or Robin, in either of our worlds, in which case I became a collateral because of my link or past uniforms."

 

Dick perked up. "Maybe Zatanna can find out more?"

 

Zatanna eyes grew at the suggestion, and she mumbled a self reprimand for not thinking about it earlier.

 

She asked the three alternate to stand together (Nightwing took care to put himself between the Robins) and chanted a spell in he reverberating, half-shouted magic voice. "WOHS CIGAM SECART !!!"

 

All three newcomers immediately started glowing in a gentle blue light, a golden network glowing amongst their aura.

 

Red Robin's aura was the strongest, the other two's looked like it had faded a bit, Zatanna saw it too. "You're shedding the magical markers, it can be a good thing or a bad one, but since I am not used to reading magical auras yet, it means we're running the risk of the spell not being decipherable by the time someone who can understand better than me comes to take a look."

 

"What do you mean it can be good or bad?" Damian inquired.

 

"Well, it can also be neutral, but I mean, there are two extreme scenarios that could come into play, best one is that when the magic surrounding you fades completely, so will your teeter into this universe and you'll be naturally transported back whee you belong... Or get lost in the no-space... Or it could be that when it finishes fading, so will your chances of ever getting back to your own universe."

 

"And you are not capable of telling which it is, magician?" Damian inquired.

 

Zatanna frowned at him irritatedly, but extended her hand and touched his glow. "The magic doesn't feel malicious. It is disconcerting, tastes a little like mine, and I think this means the caster is young, it is disorganized, but potent, yet very... Calm, it looks like one of these wisdom oriented spells, actually."

 

Batman nodded at her. "Thank you, it is helpful and reassuring, I will reach out to other magicians who could help us, but in the meantime, it is prudent to treat the situation one the basis that we are faced with a worst case scenario. Do you have any way to... Freeze their magical markers?"

 

Zatanna pursed her lips in thought. "I don't think I can without altering the nature of the magic clinging to them, and if we're working under the assumption of a worse case scenario, then it would be bad." She narrowed her eyes. "But it should be safe to trap a sample of the magic in a vessel..."

 

She frowned thoughtfully, then took her hat off, holding it in her outstretched hands. (The alternates stared at her.) "PAWS HTIW YM LATSYRC GAB !!!"

 

The hat flashed and turned into an old style bag that Zatanna deposited on the ground and opened. "So, the best way to do that is to find a stone that has a similar personality to yours an use it as a stand in for you, making it absorb a part of the magic surrounding you. Stones naturally cling to their energies better than living humans do, and since they are inert, I can spell them to keep their current state without risking to kill them in the process." She explained as she carefully spread a collection of gems and fine stones so they would float about one inch above the ground.

 

They watched her work, and there quickly was a few dozen rocks suspended in front of them. "Okay, who goes first?" She asked once everything was set to her satisfaction.

 

Red Robin stepped forth, and let Zatanna guide his hand over the little field of stones bellow, palm facing down, Zatanna's hand resting over his.

 

She nodded and breathed in. "RALIMIS STCARTTA !!!" One of the little gems shot up and smacked into Tim's hand, his fingers automatically closing around it.

 

Zatanna took the hand in hers and he opened his fingers. She blinked and laughed. "Ruby? Well, now that is a precious one."

 

Tim had a neutral expression. "I forgot a part of it's meaning, but it's good for energy, isn't it?"

 

She plucked the stone from his palm, and made it shine with her magic, smiling. "Ruby's good for intellect, courage, energy, protection, stamina, strength, independence, leadership, healing... And love life." She waggled her eyebrows at Tim, who blushed. "It is a very powerful stone, but it isn't good for meditation, it gives out too much energy to let one slip into calmer mindset, and using it for too long in the same day can prevent sleep, though it is a good gem to wear at night if you want to ward off nightmares or evils."

 

Nightwing was grinning behind his hand. Zatanna turned the gem in her hand. "I'm done purifying it, let's start." She closed her eyes, mouthed her words in preparation, then gently pressed the gem to Tim's forehead. "EKAT CIGAM NI !!!" The stone shone, and Tim's blue and gold glow dimmed a little. "Okay, now I just need to freeze this stone in it's state and we won't have to worry about running late." She smiled at Tim and concentrated on the gem again, considering her next spell. "YATS EHT EMAS !!!" There was another spark of power, that wrapped around the rock the faded.

 

Zatanna nodded and put the stone in a small pouch, the turned to the other two. "Who's next?"

 

Nightwing's stone was a Turquoise "it's used for healing, cleansing, wisdom, understanding, trust, kindness, friendship, it dispels negative energy, and stimulates romantic love." She looked at Nightwing shrewdly. "It's a talisman against accidental falls, it's a lucky stone that enhances creativity, it's used in meditation to avoid loosing yourself in the higher spheres, it's a teeter to bring one back safely when the meditation is done."

 

Nightwing blinked owlishly at her declaration and let her repeat the ritual without a word, Damian, on the other hand was snickering.

 

Damian, when his turn came, got an Emerald. He declared that he knew it's meaning before Zatanna could list it and rudely urged her to get on with it. Zatanna looked at him with a little smile and repeated her ritual once more, then packed her crystals back into her bag and dispelled the visible auras around the extra-dimensional visitors.

 

Then there was another flash.

 

The first thing Dick noticed about the newcomer was the rocket-launcher.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason Damian didn't let Zatanna tell everyone the meaning of Emerald is because he was embarrassed.  
> It represent youth, hope, future, renewal, growth, justice, unconditional love, loyalty, compassion and harmony. (lol)  
> It's good for healing, inspiration, patience, focus, clairvoyance, memory, mental clarity, protection, intuition, inspiration, unity, friendship, security, self-esteem and balance with your loved one.  
> It's linked strongly to eyesight and wisdom (lol again), in meditation, it helps to maintain the required breathing pattern and stay in the right mindset, as a talisman, it helps to find love.
> 
> It may not look much like him, but I like to think he'll grow into those that don't fit ^^. (Okay, yeah, I chose emerald for it's color, green fits Damian, and it's one of the most precious stones, Tim got a Ruby, so I had to balance it.) (Yeah, Dick got a Turquoise, that's a pretty common fine stone that doesn't even shine, but I find it fits him.)
> 
> Excuse the end, I had no idea for this chapter's cliffhanger.


	6. Unsettling Newcommer

_The first thing Dick noticed about the newcomer was the rocket-launcher._

 

Okay, so the second thing he noticed was the red helmet.

 

Third thing was the red bat on the guy's chest, but it didn't really compute because a bat and a rocket launcher did not belong on the same person, unless that person was the Joker trying to fuck with Batman's head. (And even then, the bat still did not belong there.)

About third and a half was that the guy was indeed male, and about as tall and muscular as Bruce.

 

Fourth was the gun that was abruptly leveled at Nightwing's chest.

 

Dick, the Team, Batman, Black Canary and the alternate instinctively fell into fighting stances, though they didn't attack (ergo, gun pointed somewhere pretty vital.)

 

"Okay." A filtered voice growled out. "You have five seconds to explain why the hell I am there before you wind up with a very ugly bruise and a probable broken rib."

 

(Oh, right, ceramic and graphite plated Kevlar bodysuit, Nightwing wasn't actually in life threatening danger unless the gun was leveled at his mouth.)

 

"Be reassured, Hood, you aren't here because we wish you to be." Damian snipped with a sneer.

 

Nightwing grimaced. "Damian, gun pointed at me. Not the best time to try diplomacy."

 

Damian opened his mouth but was interrupted by ...Hood? "Answer my fucking question, Goldie, why the fuck am I here, with diminutive capes, one of O's birds and a bad copy of B?"

 

Tim stepped forth, the gun didn't waver, but Hood moved shifted his rocket launcher in a way that meant it wouldn't fall if the intruder removed his hand from it. "There's a spell that's fetching us and bringing us here, we're already looking for a way to get back."

 

Dick didn't like the helmet, because with it, he only had body language as a clue to read this aggressive newcomer’s mood as he stood still, considering Tim's words. "And where the hell is 'here'?"

 

"Not to far away from me." Dick answered, taking a step closer to the guy, because he was Robin, it was his job to get in lunatics face and be an annoyance.

 

The helmet shifted a bit toward him. "You replaced Replacement's replacement? It gets faster and faster."

 

"I am not being replaced, that happens to sub par Robins." Damian spat, causing Nightwing to wince, Tim to growl and Hood's body language to focus entirely on the kid.

 

"Don't try me, Demon spawn, I'll shoot you, wouldn't loose sleep over it."

 

Batman had a deep frown etched in his face and was kind of glaring at Dick, but he still wasn't interrupting, probably estimating that the talking down of gun wielding, bat wearing murderous lunatics was best left to those who knew said lunatic.

 

"You are not amongst enemies, Hood, lower your gun." Nightwing tried.

 

"I'm sorry, Goldie, what were you saying? I couldn't hear you over the sound of your hypocrisy. Last time you said something like that, I got stuck in Arkham, five doors down from the Joker's cell, to be precise."

 

(Huh, not the best of recommendations.) The Team stance became a bit more pointed at that information, but Nightwing face turned even sourer, with a visible strand of guilt mixed in, this time. Damian's face was blank, and Tim was carefully neutral.

 

"You needed help." Nightwing shot back. (It sounded like a well rehearsed argument.)

 

A very harsh laugh emerged from the red helmet. "And you somehow thought I'd find it in Arkham, of all places? No, don't answer, I don't want to hear your stupid crap, we both know these are just the lies you tell yourself to feel better about your awful decisions, the hard truth of it is, in the end you never gave a flying fuck about me, brother." the last word somehow sounded more like an insult than when Hood had called Damian a demon spawn.

 

Dick really didn't like where this was going, gun and rocket launcher and 'brother' and Arkham (and _"try to be understanding toward Jay and not be as much of an ass to him as I was, because you WILL regret it for years if you do"_ ) and the red bat on the black body armor, and the red helmet and... Wasn't Red Hood an old alias of the Joker?

 

The silence stretched on as the two adults stared at each other, the gun still pointed squarely at Nightwing's heart, who was looking very pained.

 

 _"Should we intervene?"_ Megan asked.

 

 _"No."_ Artemis answered, despite being poised and ready to draw an arrow. _"If they are actually brothers, then any kind of meddling will only make the situation more explosive. Plus the Robins are guarded, but not overly so, they don't believe that this Hood actually is a threat right now."_

 

That only counted for outside meddling, probably. Dick pasted on his best innocent face and took another step toward the gun wielding newcomer. "Brother?"

 

It worked on the sense that Hood's attention shifted to him. "Who the hell is this, anyway?" Hood gritted out. "Preemptive replacement so you've got a spare when the Batling croaks?" He asked, jutting the chin of his helmet toward Damian a bit.

 

"I am not nearly incompetent enough to let myself get killed, Hood." The arrogant little Robin sneered, which looking at the twitches on the helmeted man's shoulders wasn't the wisest thing to say.

 

"No, I am this universe's Robin. My Batman's the one over there." Dick announced, pointing at Bruce. "I'm apparently attracting the people with a link to Robin or Batman over from your universe. So you're like my other world brother?" he added with his brightest smile.

 

Dick could feel all the eyes on him, and heard the mental warnings from his team, but this situation needed to be defused, and the alternate didn't seem to be doing such a good job at it.

 

It kind of worked, because Hood grunted and slowly lowered his gun, helmet's face directed more or less toward him. "Is that a littlest Replacement?"

 

Red Robin visibly bristled. "Why don't you shove the nickname, Hood? And no, he isn't me."

 

Hood didn't visibly react to the rebuke. "It sure as hell isn't the hell kid."

 

Dick crossed his arms, fed up with these people failing to recognize him, sure, he didn't look all that much like what Dick could see of Nightwing, but that was because he was older, there had to be resemblance with how Nightwing looked as a child. "I am the first, and so far only Robin, I don't see why you other-dimensionals fail to consider it as a possibility."

 

There was a moment of total silence, then the new visitor burst up laughing. "Oh, my god," he gasped "Goldie? You're Goldie?"

 

Dick frowned. That felt too similar to Red Robin's reaction for comfort.

 

"Hey!" Hood chortled, finally holstering his gun. "Would you look at that, miracles do happen, after all, looks like bluebird's double has a sense of fashion." The alternates were now half smiling. There was this inside joke again, why? Why in front of Dick's team (minus Rocket, she should be there soon though), Dick had an image!

 

"Yeah, shocking, I know." Red Robin smiled.

 

Nightwing's lips were pursed in a very petulant sort of frown. "Really? Are we really going there now?"

 

Damian started snickering "You should have known these terrible choices would be back to haunt you sooner or later."

 

"I mean really, we're in an unknown universe, with no actual idea why, Red Hood just barely removed his gun from my chest, and you want to air that laundry in front of a mashup of our team's younger versions?" Nightwing exclaimed, unimpressed.

 

The two heroes whose faces could be seen grinned evilly, previous animosity seemingly forgotten in front of what was apparently premium teasing material.

 

"To be fair." Red Robin grinned. "If the booty shorts aren't aired from time to time, they would risk getting moldy."

 

"Yeah," Red Hood added. "And cleaning mold out of scaly panties can't be easy."

 

"Do I need to remind you that you wore them too?" Nightwing hissed, eyes narrowed.

 

"I had no choice, you made terrible wardrobe decisions, and I later got stuck with them." Hood answered, crossing his free arm over his chest.

 

Dick thought that's what a civilian would feel like if they got stuck in a derailing train. He could practically feel his teammates stares and amusement from there.

 

"To be honest, I never understood why you decided to forgo pants and fight crime in your underwear." Damian helpfully pointed out. "You do seem to have some measure of common sense, so why choose such impractical and unarmored costume is a mystery."

 

Dick's life was over.

 

"Let's not forget the pixie boots." Tim nodded. "or the satin knee length cape." Dick wondered if he could justify maiming the alternates.

 

"And the Discowing, shouldn't forget the Discowing, Elvis Presley collar, cleavage down to the abs..." Hood listed. (Was this necessary?) While Nightwing stared at his 'beloved baby brothers' with crossed arms and a patiently exasperated face. Nightwing caught Dick's eye and winced apologetically.

 

"The mullet!" Tim snorted.

 

 _"Mullet? Isn't that some kind of horse? why would Nightwing fight with a horse?"_ Megan puzzled.

 

 _"It's also a pretty unfortunate hairdo from the 70's."_ Wally volunteered, completing the information with a mental image of Dick in one, because he was a terrible, horrible person, and not Dick's best friend anymore.

 

 _"That's... Original."_ Zatanna commented.

 

Dick would not cry, or flee, or murder the alternates where there were witnesses to see it.

 

"Okay, that's enough." Nightwing shouted over his snickering brothers. "We all know these comments don't really phase me because I'm proud of my roots, so it's usually all fun and game to bring my teenage indiscretions up, but you're making an innocent collateral right now. Especially since mini-me did nothing to justify being ridiculed in front of his team."

 

Oh, thanks, Nightwing. Well, almost. Being called mini-me, was not cool. But since the younger alternates stopped laughing and were looking at him with apologetic faces (... Well, okay, Damian's face was blank, Tim wore an expression of stunned realization, and the helmet was opaque, so Dick could only tell that Hood's face was toward him) and had stopped recounting embarrassing stuff about his older self, he was inclined to forgive him the nickname.

 

Nightwing Batman kept his arms crossed and his pointed almost-Batglare™ leveled at the assorted siblings until he seemed satisfied that they were as sorry/ ashamed as they would get, before he sighed and turned to Dick. "Sorry again, razing me about my previous costume choices is usually a pretty harmless way to vent tension, since everyone seems to agree on that subject, and I've heard it more than enough to be immune to it, we didn't think about the prejudice we'd be causing you by using one of our most regular coping mechanisms."

 

 _"What, they're stopping? It was fun."_ Wally complained, Kaldur glared at him, and Artemis stomped on his foot while Megan looked very disappointed in him, which seemed to be enough to shut him up.

 

Nightwing abruptly turned back to his people with a warning sound, though Dick didn't see what had caused it, and all three of them dropped their shoulders and looked away.

 

"Anyway, yeah, meet Red Hood, part of the ex-Robin club with the rest of us, now freelance vigilante wherever he chooses to be, which lately, is where he can find the largest anthills to kick at." A pointed look slid over the rocket launcher at that, but not further comment was voiced. "Hood, those are alternate versions of the people we know, except younger, and with secret identities mostly intact yet, so let's avoid real names at first."

 

"Well," Artemis pointed out, "it's really only Robin and the some of the adults who still haven't told the Team their first names yet, but seriously, if you're going to keep popping up, maybe we should put a sign on Rob so this doesn't get repeated each time."

 

"How many of you are there anyway? You said four Robins and a half, so one more to go?" Wally asked.

 

"Why the fuck should I care to protect Goldie and B's ID, anyway, huh?" Asked Red Hood. "I have no loyalty to your shitty sect left."

 

Nightwing starred at the red bat on Hood's chest until the helmeted vigilante snarled at him. "Loyalty to us or not, these version haven't done anything to earn your scorn, and are our best way of getting back home."

 

"If your question is how many Robins" Tim answered Wally's question, "then four and a half is about right; but if you're asking how many Bat affiliates could get more or less randomly selected by a misfired spell on Robin or Batman, then it goes up to... huh, between a few and a lot... Would you count O's Bird of Preys, Batman?"

 

Nightwing mulled it over. "I can't say. It's certainly not probable, they operate under Oracle and without links to us, what about the foreign Bats?"

 

"Can't rule it out." Tim frowned, then turned back to Wally. "So, yeah, depending on how inclusive the spell is, this could be all, or we might see Batgirl appear, or we might have anywhere between four and thirty more bat affiliates, or bat themed allies showing up." Red Robin shrugged. "So far, nothing implied it spread further than ex-Robins, though."

 

Dick blinked at the ridiculous number. "Up to thirty more people are in close link to Batman and Robin?" That was not really computing.

 

Batman was holding himself really still, and really expressionless, which was a way to not express his own surprise.

 

Tim shrugged. "That's a grand maximum, not all of these are in close link to us."

 

Was he being vague on purpose, Dick thought he was being vague on purpose.

 

Batman Nightwing hummed. "Not to mention, even if the pattern don't seem to point in this direction at the moment, we HAVE all been members of the Titans..."

 

Tim blinked. "Don't, just don't, I don't even want to consider the mess that would become." He shook his head with a grimace. "Speaking of, I don't recognize everyone." He added, scanning the Team over.

"Zatanna, from the Justice league; Superboy, from the Titans, mostly my time, Kid Flash from his time." He jerked his chin at Nightwing to indicate who he was talking about. "Miss Martian is from one of my versions of the titans, and of course Robin... I'm unclear on the two of you." He added, eyes finding first Artemis, then Kaldur.

"The gills, webbed hands and shin fins would suggest Atlantean, but I don't have a clear match for you. And you don't look like any Arrows I know of."

 

Artemis pulled a face, Kaldur frowned a little. "You mean we don't exist?"

 

Batman looked over, curious about alternate time-lines facts. Nightwing shook his head. "That isn't sure, our information are pretty complete, but we still don't know everyone. You probably exist but weren't in the Titans or JLA."

 

Zatanna stood back from where she had been spreading her stones again with a little frown of annoyance and walked up straight to Red Hood, looking up into his visor, and making him recoil a little. "Sorry to interrupt, but I need to collect a magic fragment from you too." She declared, before grabbing his biceps and yanking him toward her little floating gem field.

 

"I'm Artemis. I live in Gotham right now. I still haven't gotten a codename, but since I am actually named after the Greek hunting goddess, it looks like I do." Artemis declared, resting her hand over her hip, even as she watched the huge man get, well, not manhandled... Womanhandled? By a magician teenager girl half his size.

 

The Tim and Nightwing looked at each others and did a blinking thing, accompanied with grimaces and little head shakes. "Yeah, still no clue." Red Robin concluded with a shrug. They were also, Dick noticed, keeping a wary eye on their newly appeared sibling. (Yeah, the one with the rocket launcher, Dick couldn't for the life of him guess why they would be wary...)

 

"... My sister is Cheshire." She addded reluctantly. There was definitely a spark of recognition that time.

 

To the group's right, (the Team and Dick's right, it was left for the alternates, of course,) Zatanna pushed Red Hood's hand over the stones and and called her first spell.

 

"Cheshire? That one is familiar, but I'm sure we would have known if she had a sister. I mean, we're talking about a Cheshire whose name is Jade, aren't we?" Red Robin tried to clarify.

 

"Yeah." Artemis frowned, unsettled by the knowledge that she apparently didn't even exist in the world the alternates were from.

 

"Then I am sorry, we don't know of any siblings of hers. You might still exist, though." Nightwing tried to soothe.

 

Artemis pursed her lips then sighed and shook her head. "Doesn't mean much, I am not defined by who I would be in another universe anyway. I'm my own person, and I decided to do something with it." She declared, chin raised.

 

Nightwing smiled and nodded. "You are."

 

Red Robin looked like he'd lost interest on the ID conversation and was instead staring at the little... Well, it looked more like a shiny, colored pebble than a gem, that Zatanna had retrieved from Red Hood's hand.

His focus also drew the attention of the other alternates, which in turn redirected the Team's focus to Red Hood and Zatanna.

 

"So, you got a colored rock." Damian jeered.

 

Nightwing cleared his throat. "Says the one who didn't want us to know the meaning of his stone."

 

"What are you bunch staring at?" Hood growled.

 

"Well, I don't actually know, they were looking at you, so I looked too." Wally shrugged.

 

Hood's head turned to his co-univerials (therefore missing Wally getting pinched in the side by Artemis). "What, got something to say?"

 

Red Robin drew himself taller at the aggressive tone. "No, I wasn't actually going to say it, I was just... wondering." Hood kept staring at him, so he huffed a breath and justified. "That's a Bloodstone, isn't it?"

 

Everyone stared at Tim for a few seconds, then at the stone, Zatanna or the Red Hood. Damian snorted, Hood's posture got distinctively more aggressive and Zatanna snapped.

 

"Yes." She articulated with energy, a first going to rest on her hip. "That is indeed a Bloodstone. It is a mix of Jasper, quartz and iron oxide, and was considered a semi-precious stone for the longest time, just like Turquoise," she added pointedly, glaring at the tiny Robin.

"It is also called Heliotrope, Sun Stone, or Christ’s Stone. It is actually a very noble and powerful stone, that is used as a talisman to prevent bullying, to provide guidance, intuition, creativity, perseverance, motivation, courage, strength, endurance, prosperity, healing and luck. It's a stone that speaks of noble sacrifices, resilience, protection, nurturing, altruism, adaptivity and passion."

"It is helpful in meditation for grounding and to keep an open mind; in divination, it helps find solutions to your problems; and as a magic or shamanic medium, it is used to control the weather, bringing the rain, or the sun, protecting from tempests; and to banish evil."

 

"That... Is impressive." Dick commented.

 

Red Hood stood very still, and when Zatanna rapped her knuckles on his helmet and asked he remove it and bend down, he complied after a couple of second. There was a bit of red on his cheeks.

 

(Red Hood wore a domino mask under his helmet. Dick didn't know whether to call it paranoid or careful...)

 

He put his helmet back on as soon as Zatanna was done.

(Everyone was still kind of winded by all the qualities Zatanna had just attributed by proxy to the firearm totting muscle mountain.)

 

The silence was broken by their leader, who finished addressing the alternate's previous interrogation by introducing himself. "My name is Kaldur'Ahm, the Team calls me Kaldur, and my codename is Aqualad." That got him the whole focus of all the alternates.

 

(Well, maybe, Red Hood was still standing next to Zatanna, propped up over his rocket launcher and giving off the impression of impassive observation. Well at least he wasn't pointing a gun at anyone right now. Zatanna, for her part was packing her mediums once more.)

 

"Well." Nightwing blinked. "That one is new."

 

"What do you mean?" Inquired Conner with a frown.

 

Nightwing smiled tightly. "I mean that Aqualad was a part of the Teen Titans founders, along with me, Speedy, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl." He told them, not actually clarifying anything. "His name was Garth."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to live up to the enthusiasm once again, Jason is a misbehaving Drama Queen, he was going to bitch for the whole chapter, and I wish I had sicked Zatanna on him sooner, because trying to temper him took me way too much energy.
> 
> (Yes, authors speaking about their writing process does often make it sound like we are either slightly schizophrenic, or we actually are inside the story playing refree, I guess some authors try to make an effort to actually sound sane, I don't. I do firmly believe that writing a story consists of absorbing the personalities of your characters, and giving them a part of your brain as a playfield then try to herd them into the direction you find the most promising.) (Some characters are, of course, about as easy to heard as cats.)


	7. Stunning Acts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I forgot to add it in the note on last chapter:  
> Artemis does exist in the DC continuity the batbrothers are from, but she apparently isn't Jade's sister there (or maybe she is, but it isn't registered, but as Cheshire is Lian's mother, if the two of these knew they were sisters, then Roy would have known it, and since Dick Nightwing used to babysit Lian, then there are very good odds that Dick would have known it too and added it to the Batcomputer's Database) she is one of the wearer of the Tigress alias, and a villain, as such, that would have made a pretty good cliffhanger too, but I realized that she was unlikely to disclose her full identity, and I also didn't want to hurt her with that, because I do love her, and she doesn't deserve to spend her whole life second guessing herself.  
> (In new 52, she is a blurry, throwaway teen character without a clear alignment, that fought against Tim in a battle royal kind of thing before they cleared the misunderstanding before getting killed by someone else...)
> 
> Also, Damian is not THAT tiny, he is twelve, and his head should be somewhere around boob level, he would fit under Dick's chin if they were standing straight very close together. Take it as my creative license paired with Dick's "are the freshman getting shorter each year?" kind of teenage mentality. (I did it all the time in high-school, and now finally understand how ridiculous it was, because frankly, high-schoolers are all tiny, even the ones who aren't freshman.)

_Nightwing smiled tightly. "I mean that Aqualad was a part of the Teen Titans founders, along with me, Speedy, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl." He told them, not actually clarifying anything. "His name was Garth."_

 

Dick had heard that name before, in passing, not in a way that suggested Kaldur didn't like him, of course, but just in his typical self-repressing one that suggested Kaldur believed his life to be somehow uninteresting to others.

And considering how little of his personal life he did share, the very fact that Dick was aware of Garth and Tula's existence meant that they both had to be of an incredible importance to Kaldur.

 

And in a way Dick had seen rarely enough to count the occurrences on his fingertips, Kaldur faltered at the information, showing surprise and emotion at the concept. "In your world, Garth is Aqualad?"

 

Nightwing seemed to get how important this question was, even when Dick couldn't guess it. "He was, when lad was an adequate term to call him by. He has, just like the rest of us, taken on an adult identity as he grew up. He goes by Tempest, now. To my knowledge, there hasn't been any successor to the mantle of Aqualad. There have been three Aquagirls, though. Do you know him?"

 

Kaldur nodded slowly. "We are best friends." He said, way more emotionally than he normally would, but it could easily be explained by the bomb Nightwing had just dropped on him.

 

Nightwing was making a very blank face. "I have been in a team with my version of Garth for years, and your name doesn't ring any bells..."

 

Kaldur was now just as blank.

 

Red Robin piped up. "Maybe, but it does for me. Let me check." In a swift movement, Tim had a tablet in his hand. (Though where it had been stashed so far to avoid getting crushed in the crash landing was a mystery.) "We've been screening new teen heroes, since Ravager's departure left a hole in the team." He glanced up from his tapping and at Nightwing with the heavy sigh of someone who knew an old argument was about to surface again and wanted to head it off.

"I know that we are going through members way too fast lately, but that shit is dangerous, and keeps getting more and more so, the team needs to be stronger if we do want to have a chance at actually helping the newest heroes train and develop." Tim shook his head, and stood a little straighter. "Anyway, I have been looking up the surfacing heroes and metas with Cassie, in prevision to sending out invites, Aquaman sent us a suggestion for... There. Jackson Hyde, Human Atlantean hybrid, native name, Kaldur'Ahm."

Red Robin scrolled through his file silently, humming to himself. "Picture wise, you're a near match, only the hair-color changes, I should have seen it right away. Do you want me to tell you what I know of him, or should I keep silent?" Tim asked Kaldur.

 

Kaldur looked around himself, first at the Team, his friend, then at their adult supervisors and at the four newcomers. "I, don't think I want to know." he finally decided. "For him to use a human name before his Atlantean one, his life must have been very different to mine."

 

Red Robin nodded and stashed his tablet, shrugging, then looked over at Batman. "Managed to get a hold of a magician?"

 

Batman grunted. "I sent the message asking for help of an experienced magician over to both Atlantis and Dr Fate's Justice League com link, if Zatanna knows other magic user's contact information, then we can try that too, but in the meantime, we can only hope they are able to help in some way."

 

Red Robin made an incredulous face. "Well, you have a lot less of these than we do, then. I prefer to warn you, if they don't solve this fast, there is good chance that my team will come to save me. Raven wasn't at the Tower when I went out for my fly, but Cassie and Kon and Bart can always get her back in ten minutes if needed"

 

"Is Bart the same one Nightwing wanted to check was not me?" Wally asked.

 

Tim smiled. "Yeah, Bart is my team's very cute, very irritating diminutive speedster, and a genius besides, when he is not being a moronic ball of goof."

 

Everyone kind of stared at Wally with a smirk at that declaration. Wally made a put upon face and crossed his arms with a sigh. (Served him right, after laughing at Dick's embarrassment.)

 

They didn't really have the time to actually rib him, because another there was another bright flash right then. (Dick was sure the occurrences were getting closer together each time, Batman could probably tell, that was the kind of things he made notes on.)

 

The newcomer was wearing black, purple and yellow, and was very obviously a girl. Her mask was similar to Artemis, a cowl that left all her eyes, eyebrow included, bare, but sporting the same pointy ears as Batman. She had apparently been displaced mid-battle, because her leg was stretched up in a high-kick, her cape flaring dramatically and blond hair fluttering in a non-existent breeze.

 

She spun on herself, going to a low defensive stance, just like Tim had before and blinked her eyes for a few seconds while they recovered from the blinding light, much like everyone in the room who didn't have light blocking lenses.

 

Dick already guessed that this had to be the Batgirl that Nightwing and Red Robin had mentioned, but the three exclamations of this code name erased all remaining doubt.

 

Even still blinded and stunned by the flash, Batgirl drew herself up a bit at the call. "Batman, Robin? You okay?"

 

"Tt- why wouldn't we?" Asked Damian sulkily, prompting the new girl to walk straight up to him, mostly by sound, and gather him in a hug.

 

Damian growled and struggled, but not violently so, and stilled a bit when the girl murmured a "thank god, you're alive" into his hair.

 

"You were worried about us." Damian didn't actually ask, even as he stiffly let the girl cling to him.

 

"Of course I was! You both went off line simultaneously, fighting the Joker. O couldn't find traces of you anywhere."

 

"Tt- We don't need your worry, we are competent enough to handle ourselves in the face of..." Damian didn't have the time to end his dismissal, because the girl had suddenly yanked his head away from where it was half mushed into her chest, and slapped him.

 

The slap echoed in the rock room, stunning everyone, even the kid himself who blinked, head thrown to the side, and a hand reflexively going to his cheek. His face shuttered, and his hands went down toward his weapons, even as he opened his mouth again, but Batgirl didn't let him speak, yelling instead. "You! You don't get to reject my concern like that! You disappeared, fighting against the Joker, we couldn't find you! Of course we were worried! O called everyone out to search for you, and that's because we care, you little shit, not because we think you're incompetent!"

 

Damian stared at her, mouth hanging open. "I..."

 

"You nothing! We like you! We care about you, and we want to still have you around tomorrow to be an arrogant little shit, is it that hard to believe? Do you really think so little of us that you'd expect us to leave you alone in the face of mortal danger on the basis that you fight well?"

 

There was a very permeating silence for a couple of seconds, as Damian scrunched his face up before he gritted a "no" out.

 

Batgirl seemed to think it was enough, and pulled him into a hug again. Poor kid looked totally lost on what he was supposed to do. Awkwardly letting himself be clutched to this girl's chest and turning his head to blink at Nightwing with a very bewildered expression.

 

Nightwing raised his brow at the kid, but did come forward, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "As you can see, we're both okay. I hope O doesn't panic too much at your disappearance, Batgirl."

 

That brought her back in the present, making her look around with her now mostly fine eyes. She blinked at the public she had and coughed, letting go of Damian and stepping back. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry, Robin! I wasn't trying to embarrass you!"

 

Damian stepped back very stiffly, placing himself about a step behind his Batman and to the left and directed a Batglare™ at Red Robin first, until he sighed and looked up to the ceiling in some kind of agreement not to make fun, then to Red Hood, who steadily left his shielded face pointing toward the kid until Damian nodded and turned his glare to the Team for a few seconds.

Batgirl, for her part seemingly decided that the best way to make up for her actions toward Damian was to hug Nightwing too and dilute the emotional shock.

It was a pretty good strategy.

 

Nightwing didn't seem to have any problem with getting hugged out of the blue, and even gamely lifted the girl off her feet. She laughed at him, light and bright, and Dick could feel the weird creeping on his whole Team at the image of people in a Batman costume going around being all huggey.

 

Then Zatanna decided that she wouldn't be outdone and hugged Red Hood. (Dick really feared for her life for a moment, but the huge helmeted man didn't actually react besides sighing and shaking his head.

 

Tim and Damian looked from Nightwing and Batgirl to Zatanna and Red Hood, to... Oh, Wally had decided to hug Artemis too... And then to each other, and very purposefully stepped AWAY from one another.

 

Nightwing finally put the girl back on the floor and they stepped back, then spoke again. "So, people, this is Batgirl, if the spell is on the Robin uniform, then she should be the last of us. Batgirl, this is Robin's team in this alternate universe. You know Black canary and B, of course." She nodded and waved at Dinah, then poked her tongue out at Batman. "Then there are Zatanna, Miss Martian, Superboy, Kid Flash, the first one, then Artemis, Aqualad, and Robin." She opened her mouth in a question, but Nightwing was faster. "First one too... Yes, I know, he has pants, the observation has already been made, at length, and we agreed not to make it again."

 

"Hey, no judgment." She answered, raising her hands in a placating way. " I can't say much,I wore a miniskirt. And I wore them well!" She smiled with a wink at Dick.

 

"Why would you not wear pants?" Dick exploded, fed up with this recurrent byline. (Maybe a sign was a good idea, after all.)

 

Batgirl didn't answer, opting instead to look first at Nightwing, then at Red Hood, Zatanna and Dinah.

 

Nightwing cleared his throat and went on. "So, I know you prefer to use names or nicknames, so, try not to, okay, Spoilers may be your specialty, but..." Batgirl snorted and punched him in the shoulder. "Sorry. So, yeah, avoid our names, and his." He waved his hand at Dick.

 

"You can call me Rob, though." Dick smiled. "And their first names are Wally, Artemis, Kaldur, Megan, Conner, Dinah and Zatanna."

 

Batgirl nodded, then let Zatanna repeat her ritual once again. (Dick was pretty sure she was getting fed up with spreading and packing her collection each time someone new came through.) She got a Citrine quartz, which made Zatanna smile, even as she didn't actually tell what it meant.

 

When she was done, Zatanna eyed her little field and sighed. "Kcap pu !!!" She chanted, causing the stones to get back in the bag on their own.

 

"Why didn't you do it from the start?" Wally asked her.

 

"Because I didn't want to stain the stones with my magic." She said. "But I don't care anymore, if another one comes, it'll take me a bit longer to purify their stone, is all"

 

"Well!" Dick exclaimed. "Let's not just stand around in a circle! I think the common room was a bit grenaded, but the library it still okay. It's got seats."

 

Batman kind of grumbled, but walked along with them after making sure he would be notified if anyone came in, in a way that Dick knew to mean he wanted to witness the situation with the alternates, but didn't want it to be obvious.

 

"So," Wally intoned as they walked out of the room, "Rob was the one who made the hero name, but how did the rest of you become Robin?"

 

The alternates shared a look amongst themselves, that quickly resulted in everyone looking askance at Red Hood. The Rocket launcher carrying man spoke when it became obvious they would keep staring at him until he did. "I stole the tires of the Batmobile shortly after Goldie stopped to be Robin."

 

Batman stopped in his tracks at the words, and Dick ran right into him. "You what?"

 

Hood's head turned to face Batman. "You heard me, old man, I boosted the Batmobile and got caught doing it."

 

"And that made your Batman chose you as Robin?" Kaldur asked, taken aback.

 

Hood snorted. "No, that made him capture me. Except ... 'A' saw me and got disappointed at B, and put me in one of the guest rooms; then I knew Batman's identity so he let me stay, and when I insisted I wanted to go along him as his new Robin, he made me train like hell for a couple of months."

 

"Wait!" Megan exclaimed. "You're telling me that you call each other by letters? I heard you use A, B, Little D, J, and O, do you have, like, a letter each? Is Rob C?"

 

The alternate looked at each others again. Nightwing finally answered. "No. C is Black Bat."

 

That... made more questions than it answered them. (Also, he was pretty sure that he would be D, by this pattern, which explained why Damian had a "little" tagged on. Unless he was R? It kind or mare it sound like a pirate: 'Ahr'; but on the other hand, it WAS the letter he had stitched to the front of his uniform.)

 

"Does that make me S?" Batgirl asked with a wide grin. "I like it! Beware the mighty S! Oh my god, it makes you T!" She added, turning to Red Robin. "The irony. Tee, the serial coffee killer!"

 

Tim chose not to dignify that with an answer.

 

 _"I can't believe they're just initialing their first names. Aren't they supposed to be more sneaky than that?"_ Kaldur mused.

 

 _"Well, they're mostly keeping their names secret for our sake anyway, I kind of got the feeling it doesn't matter as much anymore in their world."_ Wally volunteered. _"Do you suppose O is Ophelie? That initial is pretty uncommon."_

 

 _"O probably stands for Oracle, they used both these terms in addition to 'Birds of Prey' earlier. By the way, you noticed how Red Hood included Dinah in them?"_ Dick answered.

 

 _"I did."_ Zatanna called. _"Anyone else noticed the look on T's face when Rob introduced Conner and Megan?"_

 

(Dick hadn't.)

 

 _"I did. It was, weird. He looked like he was a little surprised, but not much more than that."_ Kaldur said.

 

"Hum, what are you bunch talking about?" Batgirl called over them, eyebrow raised. (Third person to bust them having a psychic conversation. It was getting a little worrying.)

 

 _"Erm..."_ Wally mumbled.

 

"Wild speculations." Dick smiled. "And Red Robin being weird."

 

That made Damian laugh. Tim for his part grunted. "What would I have been weird about?"

 

"Me." Megan chirped, flying forth so she floated right in front of him. "You reacted strangely to my and Conner's name."

 

Dinah was looking unimpressed but amused at them. Red Robin brought his hand up to scratch at the joint of his jaw. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I do know you use these names, it's just not the one I'm used to call my yous by."

 

Megan tilted her head to the side. "How do you call us?"

 

"M'gann M'orzz." He shrugged. "And Kon-El."

 

"What?" Conner asked. "How, why?"

 

Red Robin chucked. "Kon-El, kay, ho, en, hyphen, ee, el, and because that is your Kryptonian name." His smile froze when he saw Conner make a surprised face. "Shit, you did... You don't have that name yet? I, I'm so sorry."

 

Conner frowned at the apology. "Why are you sorry?"

 

"Because I'm not the one who's supposed to give you that name." Tim grimaced as he shook his head. "And by doing that, I lessened it's value." Conner kept staring at Red Robin, who huffed. "Think about it, who might give you a Kryptonian name?"

 

(Superman.)

 

Conner was a lot of things. Impulsive was one of these. Stupid, however, was not. "Superman? Superman would give me a name?"

 

Red Robin nodded. "And I am sorry for spoiling it for you, especially as your alternate is my best friend. I won't say anymore, but next time you see him, maybe you should ask him about his own birth name, and about the symbol you wear on your chest, it'll help you understand the significance better."

 

Conner blinked, hand going to the S shield on his shirt, and he swallowed. "Your best friend. Wait, so the Kon you were speaking of..."

 

Red Robin smiled, and perched himself on the back of an armchair where they had reached their destination. "Yeah, Kon's how I have been calling him since we founded the young justice. Do you want to see pics?"

 

"I didn't know you were that cruel, Red Robin." Nightwing called with a smile.

 

"Oh, come on! We were young, we all made a few fashion mistakes! Granted, some were more dreadful than others, and I have always shown superior taste to anyone else..."

 

"Tt-"

 

"Got something to say? Remember how I actually saw your black and white uniform, right?" Tim growled at Damian.

 

"It was traditional league clothing." The kid shot back.

 

Nightwing cleared his throat. "Let's not fight about uniforms again, please."

 

"Tt- whatever." Damian tutted, and then. Climbed up a bookshelf. With a cast leg.

 

Conner coughed to get Red Robin's attention again. "So on these pics I look bad?"

 

Red Robin snorted. "I have no idea how you'd ever manage that." He laughed. "But you were kind of ridiculous. I never managed to prove it, but I am almost certain Kon used TK to keep his hair the way it was." He chuckled then. "Which made me insanely jealous at the time, because back then, I always needed twenty minutes and half a jar of gel to do my own hair up." He looked up at the Team, finding most of them staring at him. "Hey, I was fifteen and it was fashionable at the time!"

 

"I think they're just shocked that you have hair, Replacement." Red Hood sniped.

 

"Fuck you, my hair is amazing." Tim answered moodily.

 

"You mean way too long?" Damian scoffed from his perch atop the bookshelf.

 

"Are you trying to body-shame me?" Tim hissed, eyes narrowing. (This whole situation was getting messier and made less sense with each passing minute. That was impressive in and of itself, considering where it had started.)

 

The budding fight was interrupted by yet another flash of light.

(It WAS getting closer together each time... Well except for how Nightwing and his Robin had appeared within a minute of one-another.)

 

Only Batman's incredibly fast reflexes prevented him from being nicked by the blade that appeared, swirling through the air, along with the newcomer.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damian getting hugged by Steph is something I blame entirely on ImaKaraTabiHe, she requested more Dami hugs. (The slap, however, is totally my idea :3)


	8. Very Non-Turbing

_Only Batman's incredibly fast reflexes prevented him from being nicked by the blade that appeared, swirling through the air, along with the newcomer._

 

The dagger clashed against Batman's gauntlet, and it's wielder threw another hand toward his face, black, clawed hands crooked dangerously, that stopped a couple of inches away from the uncovered half of Batman's face.

The newcomer abruptly leaped away from Batman, body bending in a graceful backward bend.

 

They landed in a crouch and stood, equally graciously, letting Dick see more than just the general feeling of 'a lot of black'

 

She, whoever she was, wore a black uniform, with a black cape that seemed to be in deliberate tatters, (actual battle rips never resulted in such regular strips of fabric,) a black masquerade type mask with their usual whiteout lenses, and a golden bat on her chest, along with a gold belt that had a bat-shaped buckle.

 

"What?" She asked, her voice ringing clear, not at all in a stunned way, but more like she didn't believe more words were necessary to make her question understandable

 

"Magic." Nightwing answered. "We're working on it. More or less."

 

So, from her reaction, the first attack wasn't even an attack against Batman, just the end of her movement, and the second was a reflex. She wasn't apparently hostile, since she'd stopped attacking as soon as she recognized Bruce.

Overhead, the intruder alert blared to life for the fifth time in two hours, and Batman sighed as he retrieved his portable computer from his belt and overrode the alarm.

 

The new girl blinked at Nightwing, a little smile slipping on her lips, then going away as she looked around. "Where?"

 

"Happy Harbor, Rhodes Island, in another universe." Red Robin piped up.

 

_"How does he know that? We never said the location!"_ Dick wondered.

 

_"Probably another facts overlap, Nightwing did guess where this was too, even though he didn't voice the location then."_ Kaldur answered.

 

"Why?" The new girl asked.

 

"Still working on that one." Nightwing shrugged. "Okay, so this it Black Bat. She has never been a Robin, so the working hypothesis just got destroyed. But I guess we have all the Batkids? Black Bat, this is this universe's teen heroes team, and their mentors"

 

Black Bat nodded and waved at them, then walked to Red Robin's side and settled there, standing next to him.

 

"You think the spell was on the Family?" Tim hummed, once he'd smiled warmly at the newcommer. "Because if so, we might see an aunt pop up."

 

"Hum" Dick piped up. "And the alternative to this family would be what? And I don't have an aunt." He asked.

 

Red Hood grunted something that Dick was almost positive was "not MY fucking family, why did I get dragged in this shit?"

 

Batgirl more or less simultaneously said. "Wait, are you saying I'm your Batsister?" She looked shocked by the concept. (On top of using stupid batwords...)

 

All the alternate looked at her. "You were Robin." Nightwing said, looking more surprised at her question than she had been while asking it. "Of course you're one of the Batsiblings." He apparently had also heard Red Hood grumble too, because his eyes swept over him at the end of his declaration, including him in too. Then he looked at Dick. "The alternative to the Batfamily is the Batclan, which is larger, and aunt is a mislabel, she's actually our third cousin once removed."

 

Dick still had no clue who this cousin/aunt was, but Bruce was blinking in a way that meant HE was thinking up his family tree to find out who that third cousin of his might be.

(Dick had learned what you called your relatives at some point, but the only thing he had remembered was that aside from your direct ancestors and their siblings, you called everyone your cousin. He had not listened further, because he was of the firm belief that anyone who was in your family and one generation or more up from you should be called an uncle or an aunt. Nightwing apparently thought the same.)

 

Batgirl grinned, then frowned. "Wait!" She exclaimed. "Does that make B my Batdad? Because I'm not sure I want that... Or for that matter, I'm not sure he wants that either." She added with a bitter tone of voice, that had Bruce pulling a bit of a grimace. (Dick agreed, their world's Bruce had to have fucked up pretty majorly for Batgirl delighted to be the other's sibling, but unwilling to be linked to him.)

 

"All Batdaddying is optional." Tim smiled. (It was a sad kind of smile.) "And generally nonexistent. Don't sweat it, S."

 

Bruce's subtle tenseness increased. (Dick agreed, ouch.) And most of Dick's Team was sending him covert, concerned looks. (Ouch again, poor Bruce did honestly not deserve the level or crap this impromptu visits were throwing at him.)

 

Batgirl smiled, then pulled a face. "Oh, god. If I'm your Batsister, does that mean we were Batincestuous?" She gasped, pointing at Red Robin, who shifted uneasily.

 

_"Am I the only one who thinks this conversation is ridiculous?"_ Conner asked.

 

_"No you're not"_ Artemis sighed.

 

"You weren't Batadopted then. And we broke up before you became Robin, so it's all really Batblurry. I mean, you weren't my Batsister then, now you are but we're not together anymore, so I guess we're clear of Batincest." He nodded, pleased with his (Bat)explanation.

 

Dick was pretty sure if Batman grew more tensely still, he would break a bone, or something.

 

_"I agree, this Battalk doesn't make much Batsense."_ Wally answered Conner.

 

Batgirl, nodded, seemingly accepting Red Robin's theory. "But doesn't B have to agree to Batadopt me for it to count? I mean you are all more or less adopted, and I'm..."

 

"I'm not adopted!" Damian disagreed loudly.

 

"Yeah, okay, you are not, but the others are." Batgirl amended.

 

"Technically, no." Nightwing sighed. "Only Red Robin and Black Bat were formally adopted."[1] He raised a placating hand before Batgirl could answer. "Yeah, I know what you mean, we are B's kids anyway, but I mean, screw B, he's not the only one who can adopt new family. We don't actually need his approval to Batadopt you as our Batsibling as long as we all agree on it."

 

The Team, and the adult heroes fell into a stunned silence (filled with a LOT of meaningful glances all around) as everyone processed the (for some) new information that:

  1. Dick was actually kind of Batman's adoptive son. (He was his ward, so that part was actually consistent with the alternates. The knowledge that Bruce had actually adopted two other kids but not Dick sat heavier on his stomach that the part about having a biological son had, because... Because was he worth less than the next kids?)
  2. All the alternates so far HAD been siblings. Nightwing's siblings, which made them, Dick possible, future siblings as well?
  3. These persons thought that the original Batman's approval was optional.
  4. These people used terms like Batadoption like it was a normal thing to do.



 

"I don't agree..." Red Hood grunted, breaking the moment.

 

"Sorry, your disagreement doesn't count on the basis that you disagree with everything." Nightwing chirped. (And despite being called by another name, he was STILL wearing a Batman suit, which STILL made his cheeriness incredibly disturbing, right on the edge of creepy.)

 

"So what you meant is that B's approval is optional as long as YOU agree, don't you?" Damian asked sourly from his spot on top of the bookshelves.

 

Nightwing frowned. "Okay, show of hands, who wants Batgirl to be Batadopted?"

 

Nightwing raised his hand, followed buy Red Robin (who sighed at the same time), Black Bat, and, belatedly, Batgirl herself.

 

"Congratulation, you've just been Batadotped as our Batsister." Nightwing concluded, clapping Batgirl in the shoulder.

 

"No, that doesn't work like that. Fa... 'B' isn't here so it's not two against three, it's three against three, and the result is inconclusive." Damian frowned.

 

"No, B isn't part of the electors for the Batsiblings quorum, so she got three out of five, she's sibling Batadopted." Nightwing disagreed. "B only has a voice on the Batdaddy Batadoption, but as S said, she's not looking to get that one."

 

"What, You don't want me to be your very awesome Batsister?" Batgirl pouted at the little boy.

 

(This whole thing was way out of hand. Well, even more out of hand than it had before. And Dick resented the number of times 'Bat' now came up in his internal monologue.)

Damian stared at Batgirl without answering. The staring contest didn't last long, because Black Bat then hugged Batgirl, smiling and congratulating her, and saying a single "my sister", that, frankly, was quite enough to get her feelings.

 

Dick honestly didn't know what the hell was going on anymore. Because on the one hand seeing his possible future self having that many siblings that he loves and that seem to love him back is a reassuring and heartwarming idea. But at the same time, they are all crazy, and pretty embarrassing besides.

Dick also notes that unlike the others, Black Bat didn't get stuck on him, or think he was Tim, or comment on his pants.

 

Most of the time he wouldn't mind comments on them, because his pants were indeed great.

High tensile nylon, Kevlar and elastane mix, that gave him an optimal range of movement while protecting his legs a lot better than any other textile ever could. And the design on them is also really cool, and it was tailored especially for him, in a form fitting way that is at once flattering and absurdly comfortable, given that they basically were a battle armor, but never bothered him much more than jeans would, or chafe in any way, or get seams stuck in unwelcome places of his anatomy.

 

So most of the time, if people brought up his pants, he would most likely thank them and naturally chatter along about how to chose the fabrics and armoring for a super-hero costume. Except they weren't commenting his pants, but rather the fact that he had pants at all, and that was an insult to his common sense, plain and simple.

(Or Nightwing's common sense, but since they were arguably the same person, the insult bled from one to the other.)

 

_"So, this just happened."_ Wally mentally said, sounding as thrown as anyone else in the library.

 

_"It did."_ Kaldur answered, voice not betraying anything. _"I hope we get this magic backup pretty soon. They are... Nice, but this is very unsettling."_

 

Batman brought a hand to his comm, frowning, and then relaxed back. a strangeness that was cleared up when they heard Rocket's call of "where are you, guys?" coming from the direction of the training room/zeta transporter.

 

Artemis called back a "library." And less than a minute later, Rocket was flying in, dressed in her hero costume as she'd been patrolling Dakota before joining them, her distinctive purple aura surrounding her.

 

She did a double-take upon seeing their guests. "Huh, guys, what is happening here?" She frowned, staring at all the Batpeople and Robins gathered in the middle of the room. (Dick had no idea why they all seemed to coalesce together, and force everyone else to orbitate around them, but fact was that since Nightwing first appeared, the alternates had always somehow managed to stay all together, and make everyone face them, with no one in their back. If this was a form of Bat-talent, Dick wanted it too.)

 

"Fucking Magic is what's happening." Red Hood grunted. "And dimensional travel. Not like it's recipe for a disaster or anything."

 

Zatanna looked at Hood funny, and he stood straighter, shoulders tilting away from the Team's magician, in a display of deliberate lack of regret. (Too deliberate.)

 

Rocket landed, blinking at the assembled heroes. "You seem... Incredibly jaded about it, for something you said spelled disaster..."

 

Red Hood shrugged. "Well, I mean, it's like Superman coming back to life... You get used to it after the third time..."

 

Dick did not keep track of exactly how many people in the room exclaimed their disbelief at the information, he was a little busy freaking out himself.

 

Nightwing frowned. "Spoilers!"

 

"Present!" Batgirl chirped, raising her hand. (Red Robin face palmed. Dick could sympathize. Even if he didn't know what that was about. He sympathized a lot with Red Robin, as he seemed to be the only sane person amongst their family group, and that had to suck.)

 

"What? How could I know theirs doesn’t do that?" Red Hood defended himself. (His body language was if anything, too sincerely sorry to be true. He hadn't been there long, but Dick could already tell that much.)

 

"Huh, okay, so I was asking stupid question, wasn't I?" Rocket sighed. "How long will they be there?"

 

"Probably until someone figures how to reverse the spell." Red Robin sighed, shrugging. "So it really depends on what magical backup turns up first." He then smiled, uncrossing his arms and stepping forth to shake Rocket's hand. "Anyway, nice meeting you, Rocket, right?"

 

"So you know her." Artemis hummed. "Is there..."

 

Another flash (Dick wasn't even surprised by them anymore, what WAS his life?) illuminated the room. (Dick felt sorry for his friends who didn't have polarized lenses, their eyes had to be half useless by now.)

 

Dick was, by that point, expecting another person dressed as a bat or a Robin, or something else heroic to appear, which was how he was once again surprised when a young African American woman dressed in a top of the line business suit (the sensible type that had pants, and not a skirt).

 

She wavered, stumbled, and blinked her eyes wildly, and that immediately told Dick that this one definitely was a civilian.

 

The young woman took a good minute to come back online fully after her shocking displacement, and Dick kind of noticed that Red Robin was standing alone by the time she could see, all his (bat)siblings having surreptitiously stepped away from him.

 

And with good reason too, because as soon as the girl could actually see what was going on, she stalked up to him, planted a finger in his chest and spat a very angry "explain".

 

(On his perch, out of immediate seeing range from the girl, the little Robin was grinning like a shark, way too happy at Red Robin's misfortune.)

 

Tim raised his hands, palms exposed and leaned back, eyes open wide, in a perfect picture of dumbfounded innocence. "Sorry, Tam, we are getting targeted by some kind of dimensional travel spell, I swear we're going to reverse it!"

 

Tam frowned emphatically, grunted, and turned her back on Red Robin, who slumped in relief. She swept her eyes around the room, noting the total lack of anyone else not dressed in a superhero costume. "Now, can anyone explain WHY I would be targeted along with the rest of you?" She inquired, squinting at Batgirl.

 

There was a very pregnant silence as everyone apparently waited for Red Robin to come up with a new theory, before they realized that Red Robin, even if he had a theory would not voice it as long as doing so would bring the new girl's attention to him again.

 

Batgirl, who spent that time being the focus of miss Tam's stare also raised her hands defensively. "I have no idea what the criteria are, but since we're being brought in the vicinity of this world's Robin, you should really ask Batman what you have in common with the rest of us in his opinion."

 

Tam turned around, facing Bruce with very intimidating squinty eyes. "Well?" She spat, tapping her foot with annoyance.

 

Batman did not outwardly react, but Dick could tell that he WAS unsettled. "It was not me she referred to." Bruce said, pointing to Nightwing as an explanation.

 

Tam was obviously getting more frustrated with this whole situation by the second, and Nightwing almost took a step back when he focus narrowed on him. "You... You're all family?" He tried, eyes swiping around all the other alternates, like he was waiting for someone to speak up and divert the attention from him. (Though luck, man, aside from Black Bat and Robin, they all looked like the last thing they wanted was for the new, very intense civilian lady to focus on them.)

 

Tam frowned, the scary factor abruptly dimmed as Tam blinked. "family?"

 

Most of the alternates were also staring at Nightwing with a similar intrigued face to hers. Nightwing cleared his throat. "Well, I mean our families have always been pretty close as a rule... Avoid saying your full name, or anyone else's by the way, our hosts have secret identities to protect too..." He smiled a very charming smile as he said this. (Dick wanted to learn how to do that too, it seemed to work very well to derail hostility.) "And, well, you know about our IDs, you helped us cover for them, and, well, your engagem..."

 

"We were never engaged!" Tam shouted, throwing her hands up. "Would you all please stop bringing that up all the time? I had to say something to derail Vicky Vale from finding out Ti... Mister Draper's identity, is it THAT hard to understand?" Her hand flew toward Red Robin as she said 'mister Draper', and if not for how she had cut herself from saying his first name, Dick would have believed she'd just actually said his name. As it stood, it sounded more like an alias.

 

Nightwing very wisely apologized right away. "I know, sorry, but the fact that you put your reputation on the line to help him makes you at least an honorary member of our family..." He tried, then seeing her unwind a little, "Also, well, I saw you grow up and everything, if it is my view of things that counts, then you're definitely something of a little sister, and fake or not, the engagement thing did solidify it."

 

Tam seemed pacified by the declaration, and sighed, marching over to the couch. "The bunch of you are lucky that I was actually getting back home, and not in any important meeting, my career does not need any more ridiculous accidents at least not for a good three years." She sat with a heavy sigh. "Now, would you please tell me who is who? I don't actually spend all my time studying superheroes."

 

Dick helpfully stepped forth, naming everyone, and saying where they were from and both their hero name, and the nicknames. Despite her professed disinterest, Tam paid attention to the whole introduction, and mostly smiled along.

Zatanna stepped in the middle of the room next an magically spread her collection of crystals again, explaining the process and reasons of her ritual for both the new women at once, and got her samples with minimal fuss.

 

Next, Batman eyes narrowed as Dick heard a signal from his earpiece.

Batman's hand went for the switch and he indicated to whoever had come in from the Zeta tube where to find them.

 

Damian apparently decided that Batman giving someone direction to find them was reason enough to come down from his perch, and slipped down from the top of the bookshelf, landing in a one-legged crouch.

 

Dick's eyes left the alternated to go to the door when Kaldur's posture changed in the very characteristic way it did each time Aquaman entered his vicinity. (Kaldur was actually a soldier, before he ever became a teen hero, Aquaman was at once his mentor, his king and his superior officer, and Dick doubted he'd ever stop deferring to Aquaman.)

 

Upon seeing his mentor entering the room, (accompanied by four other Atlanteans,) Kaldur's hand closed in a fist, and went to his temple, however, before he finished speaking "ahne..." A chill came into the room.

 

Dick turned his head again, trying to find what was happening this time.

There were black tendrils of smoke, surrounded by a purple aura, appearing around the room, that immediately had all the Atlanteans summoning magic lights.

In a matter of seconds, the smoke spun into concentric rings.

 

And in the middle of the smoke rings, a ball of black energy so dark it looked like it denied the very existence of light appeared, rapidly growing in size.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **1:** I am aware that depending on the version you chose, Jason and Dick would be adopted too. But I had to wrestle everyone's age in one cohesive time-line, which then showed an age gap between Bruce and Dick of 14 years and Bruce and Jason, of 19 years, which would have made it awfully hard for Bruce to adopt either of them when he first got them.
> 
> So I'll consider Jason's adoption as having been retconned away along with most of his pre-crisis history. (Because I'm pretty sure that bit was pre-crisis.)
> 
> As for Dick, he is supposed to have been adopted as an adult in Gotham Knights 17, but it's pretty much the only comic where it is spoken about, so I didn't even know it was a part of the main continuity. Additionally, Dick being the only living, adult, adopted child of Bruce Wayne doesn't make any sense next to the plot of the series Red Robin, that I did read.  
> So I decided to go with he version that made sense when confronted with the last pre-52 comics that got out and say that any irregularity means stuff got sneakily retconned back out because a comic author forgot to make their research.  
> [return to text]


	9. Under Dark Wings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The NaNo is finished (phew)  
> I still intend to finish this story, but it won't go quite as fast anymore, and I don't see many more chapters going into it.
> 
> I have seen questions about Babs appearing many times, and I am sorry, but no, no Babs to be seen in this story, because Spoilers.
> 
> I'm going to have to use a very convoluted logic to cover up for it, but really, Oracle is not an option if I want Season two of Young Justice to still happen without changes.

_And in the middle of the smoke rings, a ball of black energy so dark it looked like it denied the very existence of light appeared, rapidly growing in size._

 

The black ball grew up to human size, then even larger, not in a smooth way, but more like a smoke was billowing from the inside.

In the door steps, the Atlanteans assumed battle positions and grew even brighter for their magic, prompting most of the other occupants of the room to do the same.

(Dick noted that the alternate, with the notable exception of Tam were not prepping for battle, but actually looking at everything BUT the dark magic warily.)

 

Then the spherical cloud broke, smoke billowing outward to reveal it's occupants.

 

The alarms started blaring once more.

 

And Dick saw the very white skinned woman in a black cloak and dress, saw someone who did kind of look like Conner, wearing a Super crest on his chest, and he saw the white haired girl with a one eyed Black and orange cowl and scale mail and orange boots.

 

He saw his teammates see the girl who looked, overall, way too much like Deathstroke. He saw the angle of the other world's super's shoulders hiding his red crest from half his Team and the Atlanteans.

He saw Red Robin and Nightwing see everything he had seen.

 

He bolted forth, right at the same time as Red Robin and Nightwing did.

 

_"Guys, wait!"_ Dick cried on the link.

 

Only to get swallowed by Wally's _"Deathstroke is a girl?"_

 

And Artemis' _"Oh, shit!"_

 

A bolt of magic left the hand of one of the Atlanteans, and the Deathstroke look-alike spun on herself, catching the black clad floating woman and yanking her out of the trajectory of the magic, when she shouldn't even have know the attack was coming since the Atlanteans were in their collective backs.

 

More or less simultaneously, Artemis loosed an arrow, and Dick saw Red Robin whip out a hand, a fighting staff unfolding in it just in time for him to bat the shaft of the arrow, sending it down to the ground, where it exploded in sticky foam.

Dick, Red Robin and Nightwing came level with the newcommers, and Dick immediately jumped at Kaldur to keep him from hitting the super with his water bearer.

Said Super didn't pause for a moment, and flew up, barreling straight into Rocket's attacking form, knocking her flat to the ground.

 

The black magician woman made her cape flare dramatically and sent a flare of smoke toward Aquaman's Atlanteans, just as Batgirl flipped over a table and tackled Wally who was on his way to charge at the newcomers.

 

The white haired warrior girl pulled out two swords from their scabbards and slammed the flat of them right into Aquaman's side as he tried getting closer up.

 

"TITANS!" Tim bellowed over all the sounds of battle that emerged in the library. (In the corner of his eye, Dick saw Zatanna trip and fall, disturbed by Damian as she was trying to cast a spell of her own.) "STAND DOWN!"

 

Dick saw the order be assimilated by the three newcomers, he also saw Conner already launched in his trajectory, barreling straight at Nightwing.

 

_"Guys, stop!"_ Dick tried again.

 

But it was already too late since the newcomer Super saw it too and threw himself right at Conner, bodily slamming into him and sending the both of them into a bookshelf.

Megan reacted to the attack on her boyfriend by yanking said Super in the air.

 

"Fuck!" Red Robin spat. (On their left, Black Bat had just sent both Batman and Black Canary flat on the ground.) "REGROUP! DON'T ENGAGE!"

 

In the center of the room, all the alternates (minus Red Hood, who was still casually leaning on his rocket launcher, watching the brawl from the sidelines, and Tam who was curled up in her armchair, arms over her head,) drew together in a protective circle, even the Super who didn't seem to have a problem escaping Megan's telekinesis. Especially after he's distracted her with a blast of heat vision. (That was something Conner did not have, by the way, what even?)

 

Aquaman's magicians shrugged off whatever the black smoke had done and prepared to attack again, Conner rose back up to his feet while Batman reached for his weapons, and Wally narrowed his eyes, calculating trajectories.

Kaldur, for his part, didn't seem about to attack, understanding this probably was a misunderstanding, he tried adding his voice to Dick's, but the mind chatter was too thick for that.

 

Dick was sure this could be resolved if they just talked, but Aquaman's magic people were not Battle trained, they didn't seem about to stop attacking, and as long as they did, the alternates would defend themselves, which means the heroes would fight against them.

 

They could either brawl it out until they were battered enough to stop and talk, or they could...

 

There, almost perfect circle. Dick stepped back to clear the perimeter and shouted too. "ROCKET! FORCE FIELD!" He gestured the area he wanted fenced, and her eyes went wide, noticing he would be inside it, with the alternates. "NOW!"

 

Rocket's hands flew up, and a green bubble materialized, just in time for both Wally and Conner to crash into it.

 

The magicians were still chanting, and Nightwing bellowed next. "RAVEN, SHIELD!" The black clad magician threw her arms out, and a purple bubble flowed around the green one.

 

Five attacks hit the shields before calm descended again as it became obvious that they were in a stalemate.

 

From his observation point, Red Hood applauded, finishing to break everyone out of their martial mindsets.

 

Dick panted for a second, then started yelling. "Who taught you to attack people after their field commander tells them not to engage!" He bellowed to the room at large more than anyone in particular.

 

Batman evaded the situation by pulling his terminal from his belt and silencing the alarms once more. (Tam warily looked up from her arms shield, and carefully uncurled when she deemed the situation safe again, though she stayed very tense.)

 

The Atlanteans didn't budge, taking on offended kind of expressions, but Kaldur grimaced, while most of Dick's team looked around at one another in shock, having finally noticed that Dick was inside the protective bubble with the alternates instead of out of it with his own people.

 

The alternates presumably noticed it too, and accept it as Dick's gesture of good will, because they all relax a bit inside their double bubble of protection. Yes, protection, not capture, because Dick didn't ask Rocket to throw her force field to trap the alternates, it wasn't necessary, the only thing necessary was not to aggress them.

 

_"Rob?"_ Wally asked. _"What are you doing in the prison too?"_

 

_"It's not actually a prison, KF."_ Artemis answered, eyes narrowed at Dick. _"Robin only wanted to break the fight. Didn't you?"_

 

_"And if you hadn't been inside the bubble with them, they would have taken Rocket's field as another attack..."_ Zatanna finished.

 

_"Good job, Robin."_ Kaldur smiled, then he walked up to Aquaman and started a hushed conversation with his king.

 

The new alternate Super, (who is dressed in a black shirt adorned with a red S in it's shield outline, looking much like a Superboy shirt, actually, and blue jeans,) floated down, still looking out their bubble warily, then put his hands on Red Robin's shoulders, looked him over (maybe even with x-ray vision, who knows...) then drew him into a hug. "You're alright. Fuck, Tim, you scared me half to death!"

 

There was a strange moment all around, and then Red Robin sighed and wound his arms around the Super. "We talked about the death joke. I remember talking about that, didn't I talk about that." Tim enunciated slowly. "What did I say about the death jokes?"

 

Dick saw everyone who wasn't an alternate blink at that, unconsciously focusing on the conversation. The Super cleared his throat. "That only Hood makes them because he is an ass?" He tried.

 

_"He is."_ Megan commented. _"Pretty nice looking one, though."_

 

In his corner of the room, Red Hood growled.

 

_"I agree."_ Zatanna concurred to their internal conversation. _"Not as nice as his thighs, though."_

 

Dick almost chocked at that, and Kaldur actually stopped his vocal conversation to weigh in. _"Are you done objectifying unaware persons? I'm told that's pretty rude."_

 

Red Robin paid Red Hood (hey, so they were Nightwing's 'reds', weren't they? Or did that term also include Red Arrow? Or Red Tornado?) absolutely no attention and patted his Superfriend on the head. "Exactly. You're alive, and I expect you to stay that way forever and ever, Clone Boy."

 

Damian mock gagged, the white haired female Deathstroke look-alike muttered a barely muffled "get a room", and the cheer... Dick didn't even know how to put it to words, this wasn't normal, this whole situation had been way fucking weird and non-turbing from the get go, but the weird way this sounded and looked like it could maybe be normal in some way, forced all the people outside the bubble to face the fact that they had just attacked their 'guests' rescue team.

 

_"Kaldur has a point, I mean, him being a male doesn't make sexualizing him without his consent less offensive."_ Rocket hummed.

 

_"... Noted."_ Megan half apologized, followed by Zatanna.

 

"What is happening there? Why is there another Batman, and where did these persons come from?" Aquaman inquired, crossing his arms when it became apparent to him that he'd lost Kaldur's focused attention. He didn't even seem bothered by where he'd taken the flat of the swords, but then again, Atlanteans bounced back from abuse very well, Dick had seen it plenty of times with Kaldur.

  
Dick crossed his arms too, squaring off to protect his... his alternate family? "This other Batman, we call him Nightwing, is me from another dimension... Alternate universe? And as they have been disappearing one after the other from their world to appear in ours, Red Robin's friends came to get him back."

  
"I didn't come for Red Robin." The white haired newcomer laughed. "I came because we got a call from Oracle that these two were missing too." She waved her hand toward Nightwing and Damian. The first of which smiled, and the second scowling in a very cute way.

  
Aquaman fidgeted, looked at Kaldur, and said something in Atlantean that had his magician back of from their offensive positions, then turned to the bubble and very royally apologized. "I am sorry, but we are used to react to any form of dark magic as a threat, and the young lady looks stunningly like one of our world's wanted criminals."

  
Damian snorted. "I told you you should change the costume, Ravager."

  
The girl, Ravager frowned emphatically at him. "I am wearing my brother's costume as an homage to him. Do you really think you have anything to say on this type of action, ROBIN?"

  
She very pointedly looked his uniform over, then smiled and tossed her hair.

  
A good half of the non-alternates in the room were looking very confused. (Dick didn't, he'd run out of confusion a while back, not that the whole situation made any more sense, but Dick was now officially just rolling with it.)

The explosive feeling had almost totally disappeared, though, so when Rocket raised her brow in question, Dick nodded to let her know it was okay to let the kinetic field go, and the black magic girl also removed her own bubble too, and stepped away from the rest of the people around her in a nervous way.

  
"To be fair" Nightwing smiled, voice a little too loud in a way that told Dick it was more for his people's benefit than to actually make conversation. "Deathstroke wasn't completely a villain when Grant wore that name and costume." He made a very pained face. "Well, he kind of was, but he still had some humanity in him. It's hard to recall now, but we used to tentatively call him an ally, back when Jericho was on the team with us."

  
Ravager sighed, brushing a hand on Nightwing's arm. "Well, I used to call him daddy, and it didn't prevent him from drugging me, lying to me and putting an highly dangerous radioactive crystal in my eye-socket. If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be slowly dying of a huge brain tumor by now."

  
The silence that followed that statement was so heavy that Dick swore he was feeling it physically pushing down on his shoulders. Nightwing was giving Ravager a pretty solemn look.

  
The tension broke when Red Robin's cape slowly unfurled, Nausicäa style and almost smacked Damian in the face, who jumped back on his good leg and snarled.

The sound drew everyone's attention to the little Robin, then transferred to Tim's cape that was still fluttering in an invisible wind, totally oblivious to the laws of physics that it was breaking while doing that.

 

_"What? Dude! Can your cape do that?"_ Wally asked, looking at Dick. Dick shook his head.

 

Red Robin frowned at being the center of attention, then very slowly looked under his arm, at the lack of his cape draping down, then his eyes went to the hand his Super friend was still resting on his arm. "Kon!" The Super, Kon, (it probably was Kon-El, so Conner's alternate) opened wide innocent 'who, me' eyes, and Red Robin growled. "Stop messing with my cape."

 

Kon raised his brows, face still perfectly innocent and he leaned back and looked over Red Robin's shoulder too. "Oh, your cape can do that? Is it from the new design?"

 

Tim huffed an irritated sigh and stepped away from Kon, breaking his touch off his arm, and his cape promptly fell back around his ankles, swaying as it took it's place. Red Robin crossed his arms and stared at Kon. "We promised not to use our powers for evil, Kon." He reminded his friend.

 

"Oh, come on, birdie, it's totally a harmless prank." Kon grinned.

 

As if to prove his point, Kon took a step backward and touched his foot to Nightwing's boot. This time the cape didn't so much waft up as it snapped upward, the whole span of bat-shaped hem unfurling to the sides and even over his head.

 

_"Dude, can you do that?"_ Wally repeated, but looking at Conner this time.

 

_"No. We'd know it, by now, if I could."_ Conner grunted.

 

Nightwing looked at it over his shoulder, chuckled, then all emotion smoothed out of his face (and that was a lot of emotion, Nightwing was pretty expressive, even with only half a face visible,) as he stood straighter, threw his shoulders back and narrowed his eyes. "Justice!"

 

If Dick hadn't seen Nightwing's lips move, he'd have sworn it was Bruce speaking. Around the room most of the Alternate-Batpeople snorted.

 

Batgirl grinned and imitated the position (minus the dramatically spread cape, that seemed to be Kon's doing). "Gotham is my city. I have sworn to protect it." Dick could have sworn a girl didn't have the voice range to imitate Batman, and well, she didn't. But allowing for about one octave up, is was perfect.

 

Red Robin made a face, but then took on the same blank face. "Criminals, a superstitious, cowardly lot." He intoned, tone perfect, down to the growl.

 

Damian smirked. "I am Batman." He said, totally deadpan.

 

Black Bat just grunted. It was a very Batman grunt. (A Batgrunt?)

 

Bruce was looking at the Batpeople with a studied blank face that screamed awkward. (Dick kind of wanted to go over to him and pat him in the back to cheer him up. It was a pretty bad idea, though, so he didn't act on it.)

Most of the room was grinning or chuckling, except for the Atlanteans, who were still mostly focused on Raven, and looked totally clueless as to what the joke was.

 

From the far end of the room, Red Hood growled. "Bats do not kill." Still with the exact same Batvoice™, but then he dropped it and cheerily added. "I mean, except all the innocent people that just keep getting killed because of their obsession to make sure criminals stay alive..."

 

Dick felt like someone must have been hidden in a corner and had just dumped liquid nitrogen in the air vents, because the chill couldn't just be a feeling. Nightwing's cape fell back down as Kon seemingly decided that pranking time was over.

 

Nightwing growled. "Will you ever stop harping on that, Hood?"

 

"I fully intend to stop when Joker gets buried, for real, preferably after being cremated." Red Hood answered, not leaning over his rocket launcher anymore.

 

It sounded... way too serious and honest, and Dick really didn't know what to do, thankfully, he didn't have to, because Ravager took care of it. "Okay, no, I came here to heroically rescue the bunch of you, not to get caught into your Bat-Drama! Also, Hood, if you want someone dead, at least have the decency to dirty your own hand, instead of asking the people who love you to do it for you." Her voice was steely and cold, and sounded like it was her honest opinion rather than a simple taunt.

 

Aquaman cleared his throat. "And what exactly was it that you needed trained magicians for, Batman?" He asked, looking at Bruce rather than Nightwing, and studiously ignoring the latest bout of infighting amongst the alternates.

 

"To find what the transporting spell is made of and reverse it." Batman grunted, still eying Red Hood warily.

 

"I can help with that." Raven said, from where she had almost disappeared next to a wall. (She hadn't, not really, but the way she held herself had prevented anyone from actually looking at her, especially when the rest of the alternates were drawing everyone's attention to themselves...)

 

She didn't move an inch as the four Atlantean magicians refocused on her, still looking more than ready for battle. Aquaman glared at them and they tried to look a little less outwardly aggressive, but didn't stop throwing wary glances at Raven.

 

"Their caution does them honor." Raven sighed sadly. "My magic is indeed of demoniac origin. However, they needn't worry, I have been free of my father's influence since I was separated from my original body."

 

That, that was very bizarre. "Your father?" Dick inquired.

 

(There had been a lot of evil parents as of late, was it a pattern for young heroes?)

 

"I am Raven." She said. "Daughter of Trigon."


	10. Magically Dubious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so... most of the time, when a fanfic author has been MIA for a while and comes back with a new chapter, they usually have an excuse that reads like "life got in the way" or "I was working on that other project".
> 
> That, isn't my case. Life has been exceptionally unobtrusive, I was just... hibernating.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who left a little comment while I was struggling with the blank page effect, and thanks to anaisonfire, your bookmark note definitely gave me a jolt

 

_"I am Raven. Daughter of Trigon."_

 

Dick didn't actually know what she was talking about.

 

 _Artemis' Father is Sportsmaster and her mom used to be Lynx, and her sister is a part of the league of shadows?_ No prob, totally see what it's about. Artemis is way cool anyway, her family is not her fault.

 

 _Conner's actually got two separate DNA donors and one of them is Lex Luthor?_ Humm. There is time to think about it, but Dick can at least look up what products actually work to prevent hair fall for his friend. Well, and let Megan make sure he's free of subliminal triggers and the like.

 

 _Damian appears to be Bruce's kid with Talia al Ghul?_ Well, shit. Maybe Dick should think about giving his substitute father The Talk and put condoms into his utility belt... (Well, maybe not, Damian was cute... That said, it sounded like a very funny thing to do, so he wasn't excluding it.)

 

 _Ravager seems to be one out of three (maybe more) kids of Deathstroke who apparently used to be a halfway descent person in the past, in her alternate timeline?_ Check, he'll just need to think about a standardized way and format to enter that new, 'alternate universe said so' Intel into Deathstroke file.

 

Raven has 'demonic' magic, and her father is Trigon? ... Run that by him another time, please? Who IS Trigon?

 

However, if Dick was lost on the meaning, not everyone was, Megan's eyes widened in a way that made Dick wonder if shape-shifting was involved, Zatanna took five steps back and put her hands in triangle.

 

Kaldur and Aquaman's stances widened, and the Atlantean magicians hastily took each others hands (or what passed for it...) and started glowing.

 

Nightwing raised his hands pacifically, putting himself in most of the paths between Raven and the room's magic users. "Raven isn't responsible for her father's sins! And she has always fought for the good side."

 

Raven looked at Nightwing for maybe a bit too long, then shook her head. "That may be true, but I will need to be gone as soon as possible, I was conceived to be a door between my father's realms and Earth, which won't work on our world since I've killed him... twice, but the one here is still alive, isn't he?"

 

"You... You killed your father?" Artemis stuttered. (She didn't usually stutter, but then again, this was really close to home for her.) "Twice. How does that even work? I, we don't kill."

 

The Atlanteans were glancing at one another uneasily. Zatanna answered. "No, he isn't 'dead' here. He hasn't appeared on our plane of existence in centuries, though." (So that explained why Dick didn't know about this Trigon, but it made sense that those with a magic training did, he guessed.)

 

Raven grimaced. "Then I suggest we hurry this up, even in my world death for a being of Trigon's nature is not as permanent as I'd like, but a live one... You don't want Trigon taking an interest in the new shard of his power having appeared here. The sooner I am gone, the more likely you are to keep your base in one piece." She glanced around then, her eyes finding the bookshelf the Superboys had smashed into. "Well, in no more pieces than it already is in." She added with a shy smile.

 

Raven's eyes started glowing as she finished talking and she turned to face Nightwing.

 

There was nothing in her face as her head then turned to each of the alternate in turn, then looked back to Nightwing. She heaved a sigh. "Unfortunately, this will not be as easy as we first thought." She reached out a hand putting a finger against Nightwing's heart. "You are the source of the summoning. It is your judgment that chooses who will be brought here, but you are not the anchor to the transportation."

She turned to Dick, much to his lack of surprise. "You are the anchor. Whoever made this wants for the people that your alternate universe you sees as a family to come to you. I can't tell the purpose, but I can say that it would be useless to bring them back home along with me since they would only be yanked back here to your side, unless I brought you along."

 

The words were not at all well received and it was a struggle to hear any one voice in the cacophony that ensued.

 

Finally Batman's voice rose over the din. "Enough. That is not an option. Can't the spell be broken?"

 

(Dick did feel better for Bruce's declaration.)

 

Raven nodded. "It can, but not without skills, effort, and much more time than I can safely stay here. This spell is a total mess, doubtlessly the work of an unskilled or untrained sorcerer, the lines of magic... They are tangled, overlapping, redundant, it is functional, and I trust it won't hurt anyone it is transporting, but it must drain much more power that the task actually need, and it would take hours to undo forcefully."

 

"So what do you propose we do?" Aquaman asked.

 

"Good thing is, it shouldn't be that hard for someone with magical knowledge to teach the caster how to dispel it. That is wild magic, guided by wishes and words, it is all very pure and based on love, doesn't mean anyone harm, and might undo on it's own as soon as you know the exact terms of the spell and assure it that it's job is done."

 

Artemis frowned. "You mean like the kisses from princes or something?"

 

Raven smiled at her. "True love more than prince on that case, but magic can be very unpredictable, and for raw talents without formal training, it tends to work the way they expect it to, so if the caster knows of magic through fairytales, their magic will act in a similar way. You should endeavor to find the caster and convince them that their wish has already been granted."

 

Zatanna nodded. "Hmm, so taking samples of the magic was not actually necessary was it?" She didn't actually fidget, but it was a close thing.

 

Raven looked at her in surprise, then tilted her head to the side, reaching a hand out to accept the bag of stones from Zatanna an look at them. "It wasn't in that case, but that was clever thinking, it would have been useful in case the magic did disappear, it did no harm anyway." She slid all the stones out into her hand and looked them over pensively. "I think I can actually use those."

Raven chanted an incantation in a language Dick couldn't grasp, and tossed the stones and crystals up in the air, once again, the crystals stopped falling before the ground, hovering in mid-air, all in a perfectly straight line. Raven looked the line over critically. "Turquoise is Batman, isn't it?" When she got a few confirmatory nods and yeses, she turned back to the line. "The magic caster is in the direction pointed by the line, Batman's stone will be the closest to your magician. I am sure you will be able to get them to do it again, you need only ask the mediums to follow their magic flow."

 

Once she was done, Raven turned and went to talk with Nightwing for a short while, as the Atlantean magicians sort of conferred amongst themselves, Bruce raised a hand to summon a holographic screen in front of him and start looking for the possible locations, a single line wasn't that helpful to triangulate out of, but Batman didn't like to stay idle when something needed solving.

(Tim definitely looked at was Batman was doing with curiosity.)

 

Dick noticed how Raven seemed to orbit back toward Tim. That is until she noticed the cast on the tiny Robin's leg, and then her random approach took an end, as she immediately came to attention, focus narrowing down on Damian. "Robin? Are you alright?"

 

Dick had been paying attention to her and her point of focus, so he did not react, but the team (even Zatanna, who had been looking at Raven) turned as one toward Dick at the question. As did most of the adults (even Bruce spared a look up from his calculations).

 

 _"Robin?"_ Most of the team chorused, in a confusing mental shout.

 

 _"Not me, Damian"_ Dick redirected to stop the solicitous onslaught. (Yes, he was glad that he was still the first one they thought of when the word 'Robin' was said, but context, guys, only one of them was in a cast.)

 

Most of the alternates also looked over at the question, except THEY immediately turned to either Tim or Damian.

 

The little casted up boy did not seem to appreciate the attention, crossing his arms defensively, in a gesture that made the green boot tied to his belt by its laces more visible, indicating clearly that he didn't actually get in costume while his leg was in a cast, but the opposite.

 

"Yeah..." Hood drawled in a frankly irritating voice. "What happened? I thought you were impervious to plebeian things like broken bones?"

 

(Dick was feeling even more insulted, everyone had found the time to notice, and comment on his pants, yet it had taken this long for them to talk about Damian's cast.)

 

Dick saw Nightwing cringe and start reaching out, but obviously too late, as Damian already got that mean smile that Dick was starting to associate with a well-aimed verbal smack-down. "The Joker." He intoned flatly. "And a crowbar."

 

That, sounded way tamer than Dick had come to expect from the little Robin.

 

Except that Hood kind of stumbled backward as if he'd been punched, and all the BatAlternates cringed to some extent, and Nightwing kind of moaned "Dami..." while bringing a hand up to his face.

 

"What?" Damian asked, trying (and failing) to sound innocent. "He asked." The mean smile still hadn't receded. "I thought he was over it, I mean, I did read the Pretender's report on the tower break-in incident..."

 

"Okay, that's enough!" Batgirl declared before Nightwing could intervene, putting her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to get shot, Robin?"

 

The little Robin wrinkled his nose at the reprimand. "I assume you meant get shot at, Fatgirl. It isn't like this degenerate actually would succeed in hitting me."

 

Dick was sure that things would get ugly really fast, (and from the mental commentary running along, so was his team,) but the venomous answer that should have come from the helmeted man never made it out, as Raven patted his arm, and inclined her head at him. Dick couldn't tell her expression from this angle, but considering the impact it had, it must have been a powerful one).

 

Once she seemed sure that Hood wouldn't cause a scene, Raven let go of him and walked over to the little Robin, everyone parting on her way until she was standing a couple of feet away from the surly kid. "Can I?"

 

(Back to the left edge of the Alternates gathering, Ravager sidled closer to Hood and started up a hushed conversation.)

 

"Tt- It was already checked and treated." Damian huffed, but he still took a step forth so that the magician lady's hand touched his forehead.

 

From this angle, Dick didn't see much, but a dark glow (yes, it didn't make sense, dark didn't glow, only light did, but there was no other work in English that Dick could use to describe the phenomenon, un-glow, perhaps? Disglow?) seeped out of Raven's hand for a couple of seconds before she sighed and spoke again.

 

"Thank you. It is really benign. I usually would offer to heal it, but right now I'd like to avoid tapping into my demonic energy supply, since I don't want to tip this world's Trigon off about my presence here. Bringing three persons back through the inter-dimensional veil is going a tall order since I am restricted to the human portion of my power."

 

Damian frowned. "Can't you use my own energy to heal me?"

 

There was a silence. "That is..." Raven stopped again and black and purple emanated from her hand on the child's head again. "It is possible, but that will tire you extensively."

 

Damian considered for a few seconds, then a determined expression etched itself over the little Robin's face. "Do it."

 

Raven nodded and pressed a hand to the child's chest, then crouched down, cradling a little ball of blue light between her fingers that she pressed against the cast, where it slowly sunk in. She kept her hands on either side of the kid's ankle for a few seconds, until the cast broke in two and fell in her hands. The skin underneath looked perfectly unmarred, not even swollen or colored anymore.

 

She stood back up. "Done. You still should take it easy for a couple of days." As if provoked by he words, Damian kind of wobbled and started blinking rapidly. "Sleep well." She smirked, reaching a hand out to catch the kid just as he passed out.

 

Nightwing immediately stepped forth and picked Damian up (bridal carry this time, wow) from Raven's clutch with a grateful smile, then went to sit in one of the armchairs while quietly fussing over his little charge.

 

Nightwing only looked up a minute later. "Could you please keep on talking?" He grunted. "You'll wake him up if you're that conspicuously quiet." He must have noticed the bewildered looks, because he elaborated. "Robin's a highly trained operative, he could probably sleep through a storm if he knew he isn't in danger, but people being there but being too quiet is a danger marker, so act normally, please."

 

"Oh" Dick nodded, "you mean it feels like we're preparing to ambush him?"

 

"Or like we're fearing an ambush." Ravager added. "Talking amongst ourselves at a normal volume is a sign of comfort in our own security." She smiled at Nightwing and Damian, then decisively turned back to Red Hood and asked him if she could see the RPG since she'd never had an opportunity to fire one.

 

As if spurred by her, the small talk around the room started back up.

Dick, for his part couldn't seem to get his eyes off his alternate who was carefully easing Damian's sock back on, then draping the yellow cape and black cloak over his sleeping kid, then pulling his own black cape around to blanket Damian with. It was so obvious that his alternate loved his little brother to bits.

 

 _"So cute."_ Megan cooed in the link, hovering right next to Dick and almost making him jump out of his skin with surprise.

 

Thankfully, he didn't have to answer, because that was when another flash lit the room.

 

He was not really surprised when yet another Batman appeared. But him promptly falling over on his ass from (,Dick guessed,) a previously sitting position was much more surprising.

 

At this point, even the Atlantean magicians (who had only seen one apparition, and not even of this type,) were pretty blasé about the whole 'suddenly there is a new person there, it wasn't here before' thing. And were a lot more interested in studying the ripple of magic (or something) that the apparition created than in noticing the fallen hero.

Then again, they were Atlantean, they probably didn't even know the stories about Batman that well. Otherwise, they would be just as dumbstruck as the rest of the room over the fact that Batman had just landed on his rear. (Or, in the Alternate Batpeople's case, snickering under their breath.)

 

The newest Batman in the room quickly recovered from his less than ideal arrival conditions, and pushed himself up to his feet, looking around in an efficient sweep. Dick noted how his gaze caught on everyone in the room for at least half a second, and how he looked back at his people and Dick and Batman strangely once this was done.

 

"Nice of you to join us in our impromptu gathering, B." Nightwing called with a hand wave. "I really hope we have everyone now."

 

Red Robin fidgeted. "Well, I was thinking..."

 

"Don't hurt yourself, Replacement." Hood interrupted him, earning himself twin Batglares™ from Tim and the new Batman. (This was getting really ridiculous, three Batmen in the same room?)

 

"Since Tam is here." Red Robin continued, still glaring at the helmeted man. "Then maybe the next closest family member won't in fact be Batwoman."

 

Dick legitimately froze at that, because, yes, of course, he should have thought about that way sooner, if the spell targeted people that Nightwing considered his family, even down to really dubiously linked civilian almost siblings... There was only one person that could come after Bruce.

Dick saw his Bruce coming to the same conclusion and tense up.

 

The new Batman, for his part was still missing some major parts. "Report." He snapped, mostly in Nightwing's direction.

 

Nightwing raised an eyebrow at his mentor, then looked down at the kid asleep on his arms and shook his head. "We were all transported here by a spell that is made to bring the people I consider family back to this universe's version of me." He calmly enunciated.

 

Nightwing sighed, looking down at the kid snuggling up to him mournfully, then he stood and gently deposited the curled up ball of Robin into the armchair, murmuring soothingly when the kid stirred and putting a batarang into Damian's hands the way one would a plushie. It worked, as Damian clutched the weapon to his chest and settled down.

It was adorable in a slightly disturbing way.

 

Nightwing stroked his Robin's hair one last time and strode up to the other Batman from his dimension. "Raven came here with a strike team to rescue us and Tim, and she was able to give us a way to break the spell, but she can't do it herself and she needs to be back on her way before Trigon from this dimension takes an interest in her."

 

Bruce (Dick's Bruce) piped up then. "I was able to trace the line of possible locations from Raven's direction. It would be better if we could triangulate, but this is a start" with a flick of his wrist, he sent an half planet up in the room. "Raven said the Turquoise stone was the closest, so I could only narrow it down to a half perimeter of the globe."

 

"No." Tim said. "If it was that far away, the stone would be arrayed vertically toward the ground, not more or less horizontally, you should be able to narrow it down to a quarter perimeter."

 

The alternate Batman grunted. "You mean we might be able to triangulate it thanks to the curve of the earth and the angle in addition to it's direction?"

 

Dick could SEE the respect oozing out of HIS Batman to Tim, he didn't like it. (Which made him feel like shit, was he that much of a jealous ass? Would he fail his future brothers?)

 

"So." Aquaman said with a slight smile. "I guess it wasn't exactly necessary for me and my court magician to come over, then?"

 

"On the contrary" Raven countered. "I am sure the presence of well formed magicians will be very helpful both to help Zatanna send our people back and to help the spell-caster undo their work." She didn't smile or anything of the sort, but most of the still floating animosity any of the magician had for her seemingly disappeared at her declaration "Well, I believe it is time for me and my team to go back. Now we also need to send the message to the JLA not to panic over Batman's disappearance."

 

"Wait, Raven, just one question." Tim interrupted in a very serious voice, his hands falling still over the holographic keyboard he'd summoned, eyes fixed on his screen. "You told us that bringing the three of you back home on only your human power would be a stretch." He asked. Raven nodded. "The spell-caster brought eight of us here in a couple of hours, is it possible that..."

 

Raven's eyes grew huge as she understood the question before Tim finished asking it.

 

"Do you think the strain of this spell might kill it's caster?" Tim asked, face anxious. "Especially... especially if said caster was... five?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... So, this cliffhanger is apparently even better than I first thought?
> 
> For reference, this story is in 2011, and YJ!Tim will be 14 in 2016 for season 2, so right then he's 9, not five. The theory was very cute, though ^_^


	11. Flying Amongst Turbulances

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NaNo is Back! I'm writing again! (Let's forget how it means I started this almost a full year ago, why don't we ^^)
> 
> I have had some complaints about how I treated pre-Flashpoint Bruce unfairly. I expect to get more after this chapter.
> 
> So yes, **trigger warning:** I don't like Bruce, he's a very bad Dad, so maybe he tries (I sure hope so, otherwise he'd just be an all-around abusive ass) but the results being what they are pre-flashpoint, it doesn't change the fact that he fucked up every single one of his children. Maybe Reboot is different, who knows.
> 
> That said, I try not to let my dislike seep through to much. I try my best to give him some redeeming qualities. But don't count on me to search him excuses, he's the parent (or even less than that, he's the adult, damn it), he's the one who should get his shit together to help his kids, not the other way around.
> 
> He fucked up. A lot. I won't sweep it under the rug, and I won't pretend Jason or Steph should just forgive him right away without seeing amends made to them beforehand.

 

_"Do you think the strain of this spell might kill it's caster? Especially... especially if said caster was... five?"_

 

Raven closed her eyes. "Yes, in this case it might."

 

"Zachary?!" Yelled Zatanna who had moved to look over Tim's shoulder. "Zachary? But..."

 

Raven frowned. "But then again, Zachary at five would probably not have enough power to bring that many of you here before his power failed him."

 

Zatanna was turning white. "How, no, not Zachary, he can't. Not him."

 

"Hey" Tim caught Zatanna by the shoulders and shook her gently. "Hey, calm down. Zach is only one of the possibilities, okay? I just asked for his case because he was the most concerning one, you probably would have found it really familiar if it had been him. And Raven too might have been able to identify him." Raven nodded at the declaration, but Zatanna still looked distinctly shaken.

 

Dick cringed. He might not completely get it, but there was something he could do.

 

With a gesture of the hand he called forth his own holographic terminal and entered a command to clone Tim's session, opening his workspace and throwing a blown up version up in the room. "What's that?"

 

"Cross reference of our known magicians in your world and their last known position, ordered with their probable proximity to the line shown by Zatanna's crystals... Well done, Red Robin." Nightwing smiled, talking loud enough to command the attention to him.

 

Zatanna looked at the list too. "You don't think it's Zachary?"

 

Tim nodded and put his hands back on his interface (Dick keyed the synchronization in so he could manipulate the display). "I'm not ruling him out outright, sure, especially because he's the most vulnerable, so it's the most important to check on him, but he's only in the top three."

 

At Tim's manipulation, the map came closer, displaying the line that started in Happy Harbor, Rhodes Island and ran through Metropolis, close to New York City, then across a few states but not big towns, into the Gulf of Mexico and straight to Mexico before losing itself in the Pacific Ocean.

 

Tim swiftly aligned the thumbnails on the map, two were highlighted and Zachary's thumbnail floated next to the map, not attached, with a question mark as his position.

Zachary Zatara (, that explained Zatanna's distress...) was a cute black haired, blue eyed five years old on the picture, that seemed taken from a class photograph.

 

"I could neither confirm nor deny Zachary's geographical position right now. I suspect he might be in New Jersey so I'm not excluding him as a possibility, but those are more likely to have the power to do it." Tim enlarged the thumbnails of John Constantine, blonde, blue eyes, around twenty on the picture, probably in New York. And Traci Thirteen, a girl around ten of obvious Asian descant in Metropolis.

 

Raven nodded at the display. "Girl 13 is the most probable one, especially if she lives in Metropolis. It would be a good idea for you," she looked at Dick, "and the sumonees to stick together, if you're looking to lessen the strain on the spellcaster, it's better to avoid them being teleported to your side again, which I can't be sure won't happen if you get too far away from them. I'm going back now, tell everyone none of you are in danger, but I guess if you're not back in a day, another sorcerer will probably pop by to see what's going on."

 

Ravager and the other Superboy came closer to her, Kon only coming over after hugging Red Robin. Raven started chanting, causing her black smoke and purple aura to expand again. Within a minute, the group had disappeared, still leaving about twenty persons in the small library.

 

"Zatanna, can you locate your cousin?" Batman (Dick's one) asked, snapping everyone back on point, as he got another worldwide map to appear.

 

Zatanna jolted and turned to the map. She took a deep breath and sang her spell. "ETACOL YRAHCAZ ARATAZ!!"

 

A red dot appeared in the New Jersey. Dick tried not to wince as Tim imported the location on his other map.

 

Zatanna sighed with relief when her cousin's position wasn't on the line, then she looked up and saw the grim looks on most of the Batpeople faces. "What? He's not on it!"

 

The dot wasn't on the line, but considering the very long distance from Happy Harbor to NJ, in rapport to the meter long segment that was used to trace that line, it was well into the error margin. Dick wasn't looking forward to telling her that.

 

Silently, Tim hit a few keys and transformed the line in a narrow triangle, which did include Zachary's position.

 

It was Wally who spoke up. "I'm sorry, Zatanna, he is inside of the uncertainty radius. I can explain to you exactly why, but I don't think now's the time."

 

Batman stepped forth, clearing his throat and visibly sliding back into his mentor and mission leader mode. "Zatanna, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, you know your mission, take the Bioship and go check up on Zachary Zatara. I'll remind you that he is an identification risk to both Zatanna and Giovanni’s secret identities, so use discretion, though speed stays the utmost priority. Aquaman, in case Zachary is the spell caster, the team might need the help of one of you trained magicians, do you allow one of them to go with?"

 

Aquaman nodded and pointed to one of his entourage, a female, mostly human looking Atlantean. "Go with the Team, assist Zatanna at best you can, Aqualad is the designated mission leader."

 

"Good. Zatanna, take the stones along and go." Batman dismissed.

 

As soon as the final order was given, the four members of the Team plus the Atlantean magician ran out of the room, Zatanna took a few seconds to collect her mediums, but she ran out so fast that she might actually make it to the Bioship before Kaldur.

 

Dick listened as the footsteps sounded down the corridor. He could hear Kaldur giving out orders, and his teammates talking out the minutiae. He tried very hard not to resent the alternates for grounding him.

 

"Were that many of them necessary? Especially since they are going to fly over all the other potential candidates in order to go there." The alternate Batman probed from the lest lit corner of the room.

 

Batman turned to face the alternate. "No, strictly speaking, Superboy could have just taken Zatanna and Aquaman's mage there with the Supercycle, but Zatanna it too stressed out right now to function at her best. Aqualad is a very good leader, he'll be able to make the good decisions for all of them, and Megan and Wally are the best for moral support, not even going into their abilities that could definitely be useful."

 

"Sorry for making her panic, I didn't think she'd take it that badly." Tim quietly chimed up, looking pretty contrite.

 

In Dick's head, the psychic chatter of his teammates abruptly cut mid-sentence, signaling that Megan was now too far to keep his link up anymore.

Absently, Dick hoped his outgoing teammates would remember to include their Atlantean tag-along in their conversation. He should have told them that while they were still in range.

 

Batman turned again to look Red Robin in face. "You couldn't really know that she lost her father to Doctor Fate a few months ago. I guess in different circumstances she wouldn't have lost her calm quite as fast. Now tell me why you aren't particularly worried at knowing a ten years old girl is the most probable source of a spell you think might cause the death of Zachary of the Zatara family."

 

Tim stood straight again at the question. "Traci Thirteen is a city witch in our world, she has the ability to tap into the energy flows of cities. Since she lives in a very populated city like Metropolis, she has access to more than enough power to make this spell go on for days without draining herself in the process. Granted, canalizing that much power is probably going to be bad for her health, and might have effects on the city she inhabits. But it shouldn't be a life or death matter."

 

From the corner of his eye, Dick saw the two remaining Atlantean magicians nod. And he also saw Nightwing diligently tapping on his own holo-interface. Hmm suspicious.

 

"Okay, stop me if I'm saying something stupid, but does this map actually say Gotham is in the Connecticut?" Tam (Dick had almost forgotten her) asked.

 

"Yes..." Dick blinked at her. "Where else would it be?"

 

She made a face at him. "Well in New Jersey. Across the bay from Metropolis in Delaware."

 

"Well..." Nightwing mused. "I'm pretty sure Metropolis was in the Illinois once? And if you paid attention to Central City, I think it moved around between Ohio, Illinois, Florida and Missouri, don't ask me how, but it makes Gotham moving to Connecticut seem much less unbelievable.

 

Dick stared at them. What even was their world?

 

"Anyway," Nightwing grinned, "we should go on to Metropolis and check out Traci, not sense in letting her be in danger any longer than necessary."

 

Dick frowned at him. "Megan took the Bioship, how do you propose we go?"

 

Nightwing smiled widely (it was still terrifying). "With the Batplane, how else?"

 

Dick's Batman turned toward Nightwing with a frown. "You hijacked the Batplane?"

 

"Hey." Dick's alternate beamed. "I might not be quite as good as Timmy or Oracle on the computer, but I can hack old Batcodes. Yours are very similar to ours, it wasn't actually that hard."

 

"I'm pretty sure he was objecting to you being rude, N." Tim pointed out with a small smile.

 

"I had good training." Nightwing smiled back, not looking abashed in the slightest.

 

"What an example you make, Goldie." Hood taunted from his corner.

 

Nightwing stared at him. "I'm sure it's much too late for that, Tim stole a Batmobile and shipped it to San Francisco by embezzling funds in the Batarang budget."

 

Dick gaped at Tim in disbelief. Tim smirked back. "Would have gotten away with it, too, if I hadn't let Kon pressure me in letting Bart drive."

 

"No you wouldn't." Alternate Batman denied from his shadow.

 

"You," Nightwing went on, pointing at Hood, "stole the tires out of the Batmobile."

 

"Yup, and planted a bomb underneath it, too." Hood bragged, not looking the least bit guilty. (Then again, helmet. He didn't sound guilty, anyway.)

 

"He," his finger was pointing at his Batman, "breaks into people's houses all the time. She, "Batgirl raised an eyebrow in response to being pointed out " broke into the Batcave."

 

"Hey! I got invited there first! And I was young. And Tim did the same!"

 

"I did." Tim nodded. "Repeatedly."

 

"C- Black Bat is much too smart to pick habits by simple imitation if she doesn't have a good reason, Tam already thinks we're a bunch of crazies and is very unlikely to start mimicking us, Dami is asleep, and if that report is accurate, mini-me so didn't wait for me to hijack stuff."

 

Tim and Red Hood peered at the report. "Nice." Tim winked at Dick.

 

"You make the Robin mantle proud, short stack." Red Hood complimented.

 

Dick wasn't sure he was flattered by that. But he was pretty sure he could hear Bruce gritting his teeth.

 

"Anyway, our ride is there, let's go take a look at this world's Metropolis." Nightwing beamed, bouncing over to the armchair his Robin was sleeping in to pick him up. "Wanna tag along?" He asked the Dinah and the Atlanteans. "I called the large carrier, there is enough space for everyone."

 

Aquaman glanced at Batman. Dinah glanced at Batman. What was left of the Team glanced at Batman. Dick glanced at Batman. Batman sighed.

 

Nightwing grinned. "Let's go then." He adjusted his little Robin against his chest so his legs dangled on either sides of his chests and he could hold him up with a single arm under his butt.

 

Dick's eyes somehow couldn't leave the little face mushed up against the hero's shoulder. He wanted that. He'd never known he did, but now he didn't know how he even lived without a cute little brother of his own to spoil rotten.

Artemis knocked her shoulder into his, jolting him out of his wistful thinking. She smirked at him, then glanced at Damian's face and softened, shooting him a 'what can you do' kind of look, before she grabbed his arm and tugged him so he'd start walking along with the group.

 

Bruce came up behind Dick and didn't touch him or anything, but especially after the conversation they'd just had, Dick could feel the supportive and affectionate emotions he wasn't actually projecting warming his back.

Dick shook off his funk and took off running to go annoy the Red Hood. He was supposed to be Dick's next cute little brother, after all. current size not withstanding.

 

Red Hood wasn't thrilled to have Dick pestering him and made it pretty obvious. "What do you want."

 

"I want to get to know you better! You're like my little brother! When do I get to meet you? I bet I spoiled you!"

 

Out of the corner of his eye, Dick saw Nightwing grimace and alter-Batman stiffen. J for his part snorted like Dick had just made a good joke. "Sure, kid, whatever helps you sleep at night."

 

Dick frowned and theatrically spun toward Nightwing and alter-Batman. "Okay, what did the two of you do?"

 

The alternate Batman grunted and kind of sunk into shadows while walking faster, Nightwing glared at his elder then made a face. "Someone forgot to ask me my permission before giving my costume to another kid that he'd chosen to replace me after kicking me out of their house and asking me to leave the uniform behind. I still should have been nicer, but I was so young, and I couldn't get over the fact that someone I trusted decided to entrust an identity that was very personal to me to another kid without even giving me a head's up about it."

 

Alter-Batman's shoulder stiffened even more, but he didn't try to defend himself.

Dick for his part felt like a lump was lodged up in his throat. He almost stumbled spinning to look at his own mentor, desperation probably highly visible on his face. Bruce looked a bit constipated, which probably meant he was as sign he was just as horrified as Dick felt.

A circular glance showed that most of the alternates were being supremely uncomfortable with the line of the conversation too.

 

Thankfully, the tension was broken as they reached the hangar bay and the Batplane landed in front of them, making enough noise in the enclosed space despite it's high-tech noise dampeners to make any kind of conversation impossible.

 

Red Hood strode forward and started fiddling with the Batplane's bay opening commands, probably to avoid the awkward.

Dick took a deep breath and inched closer to Dinah. He was starting to honestly dislike this whole interdimentional thing.

Dinah was awesome, so she got his need for comfort and to still look strong, so she inched closer to him until her hip was brushing his arm, not obviously coddling him but still providing some measure of physical touch. Artemis and Conner probably noticed his flagging mood anyway since they also plastered themselves at Dick's side.

Dick didn't know if Raquel also felt his need for support or if she just saw the Team come together and joined in, but she also stepped closer helping Dick get a calmer bubble and level back out.

 

There was an awkward moment where the group hovered outside the plane as if waiting for someone else to make the first move following the loaded declaration still making the air heavier. Red Hood seemingly didn't give a shit about the bombs that had been dropped, and trudged up the ramp. Bruce nodded and headed up too and the rest followed.

Conner whistled to get Wolf and Supercycle to come along, and after a brief debate to chose who would sit at the controls (Dinah and Red Robin won), the Batplane took off, heading for one Traci Thirteen's house in Metropolis.

 

"So," Dinah asked her copilot. "I don't think YOU told us how you became Robin?"

 

"Well" Tim mumbled, shooting a glance at red Hood; "It was after Jay... Went away. B was in a very bad place and I had already guessed his identity, so I went to find Nightwing and convince him to come back in Gotham and help Batman stop act like he had a death wish. N volunteered me to do it instead, and, mostly, that's it. Add a dramatic rescue and a year or so of training and I was Robin"

 

Artemis grinned and turned to Batgirl. "What about you? How did you become Robin."

 

(Dick noticed how the alternate Batman, despite staying silent, was getting a more and more pained posture and face.)

 

Batgirl made a face. "I prefer not to talk about it. In fact, I prefer not to think about it. It's a very good example of how it's the people you had the highest respect in that can disappoint you the most. The story ends with a doctor faking my death and taking me along with them to Africa to protect me from the enemies I made and my boyfriend taking Robin back in the week following my fake burial."

 

In the front of the plane Tim stiffened.

 

Dick was liking what he learned less and less. What was wrong with that alternate universe. What was wrong with this alternate universe's Bruce?

 

"Well." Red Hood drawled. "Nice to see I wasn't the only one to get forgotten and discarded. It truly warms my heart."

 

"You weren't forgotten." Alter Batman finally defended himself.

 

"Oh, right. The Shrine, I forgot." Hood turned sharply toward Bruce (the original one). "Word of advice from me? If you lose one of YOUR little Robins, find something better than 'A good soldier' to put on their plaque. It is not actually flattering to get downgraded that way."

 

'Jay' turned his back on all of them and stalked to the furthest part of the plane he could get from the rest of them, and leaned back on the wall, arms crossed.

Dick wondered just how many landmines they could still stumble over.

The alternate Batman made a face and looked like he wanted to argue back some more, but Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Robin and Black Bat pinned him with sharp looks and he kind of deflated, rocking back upward from how he'd been kind of leaning toward the angry helmeted man.

 

Judgmental looks kept flying around until alter-Batman growled. "Fine! Will you be happy if I promise to remove the plaque?"

 

Red Hood huffed a humorless laugh. "Happy? No. How could I be? But maybe I will consider speaking to you once you've removed the whole damn shrine."

 

They were saved from the continuing awkward drama by the new flash that illuminated the inside of the plane.

At that point, it was expected.

Dick also expected for at least one Batman to immediately leap at the newly appeared alternate. The other might not have.

The 'true' Batman (the one that he was now somehow calling his) reached the alternate first and wrapped them in his cape, pulling them into his chest.

 

From under the dark cape, a voice that made Dick thing of cookies and post-patrol chocolate sedately said "oh my".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, Metropolis is not in a specific location in YJ, but since it's supposed to be across the bay from Gotham and YJ Gotham is in the Connecticut, Metropolis should be in NY state, probably somewhere on long island... Seriously DC geography is a mess, Young Justice is one of the better coordinated universes that doesn't contradict itself.
> 
> Apparently according episode 5 season 1, Metropolis is close enough to Gotham for Bruce to be able to see it with binoculars from his Wayne Enterprise skyscraper office. Probably, the part on the bridge is the suspension bridge between Gotham and Metropolis, but I won't swear to anything.
> 
> Later in the same episode, a map showing New York, Boston and Gotham appears, and Metropolis is not on it despite supposedly being as big as Gotham...
> 
> Also, Traci 13 will apparently be in season 3 as Thirteen? We'll see in 2018, I hope the age I'm giving her isn't off.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are like Damian's smiles, they're super rare and may feel like they hurt to give out, but they make my whole day (or week, even) and make everything seem worth it!


End file.
